A public health message is warning clients of Share Family and Community Services food bank not to eat white balls wrapped in clear paper with blue writing that look like candies but are actually camphor mothballs.
Families that have received bags of candy in their hamper within the last two weeks are urged to keep them away from children and pets, and immediately discard the candy mixture by placing the items in a bag and putting them in the garbage.
Share executive director Martin Wyant said staff don't know many of these mothballs were mistakenly placed in candy bags for Share's 1,100 clients.
But the social service agency will be looking into the matter further and has notified Fraser Health, which sent out a warning Wednesday evening telling people not to eat the items.
"We're still looking into that [how it happened] but obviously, our first concern is the public health message," said Martin Wyant, whose organization runs food banks in Port Moody, Port Coquitlam and Coquitlam.
DISCOVERED BY FOOD BANK CLIENT
The camphor mothball was brought in by a food bank client Wednesday who thought there was something wrong after they put it in their mouth.
Share immediately contacted Fraser Health, which issued the warning. Volunteers are helping contact clients by phone, in writing and in person, and the distribution of the health message is made more difficult by the fact that some food bank users don't have phones or are homeless.
Agencies working with these groups are also asked to spread the message, which has been sent out to the media via press release, and Twitter.
According to Fraser Health, ingesting the mothballs, which are used to preserve wool clothing, can cause irritation and burning of the mouth and throat, abdominal discomfort, vomiting, seizures and shortness of breath. People who have eaten any of this candy mixture are urged to contact the Drug and Poison Information Centre at 682-5050 or 1-800-567-8911.
INVESTIGATION IN THE BACKGROUND
As Share continues to work with its clients over the next several days, a background investigation will be looking into how the situation might have happened.
Share gets its food from many different places; some is extra food from special events and people cleaning out their pantries, some comes from grocery stores.
Candy is one item that is often plentiful and a scoop of wrapped sweets is often put in a small plastic snack bag in each hamper, Wyant said. That will change as Share looks further into the matter, he said.
"We've stopped distributing any candy until we get the bottom of it."
