Cannabis in Haribo sweets: What is known now?

The parents of a family from Twente rang the bell at the police on Wednesday: their children had fallen ill after they had eaten Haribo sweets. There appeared to be cannabis in the sweets, the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) reported after a report from the police.

It is about the kilo bags Happy Cola F! ZZ (« an explosion of taste that cannot be comprehensible ») with an expiry date until January 2026. What type of cannabis it is and whether the sweets may contain other substances is still being investigated. What is already known?

1. Does this occur more often?

Recall actions occur regularly, but that there is cannabis in the product, is « very exceptional, » says a spokesperson for the NVWA. On Wednesday, candy manufacturer Haribo himself reported to the ANP that there are bags in circulation that can « lead to health problems such as dizziness in consumption. » According to the Twente family, the children were ‘pretty ill’. Haribo then started a recall of the kilo bags with the Colas candies.

All kilo bags Happy Cola F! ZZ with with production code L341-4002307906 have since been removed from the market, the NVWA reports. People who still have a package with this code can send it to Haribo in Breda. Then they get their money back. Packaging with other production codes can be eaten safely.

2. How could this happen?

Whether the location where Haribo is packaged is also used for other (cannabis -related) products or whether raw materials may have been changed, must be investigated. The NVWA does not want to speculate about possible causes of the infection.

3. What is the impact?

It is still unclear how many cannabis bags contain with contaminated sweets. At the moment it is only known that the Twente family has been in contact with it. The research relates to a limited number of reports, the company says, and one specific product in the east of the Netherlands. The fact that a recall has been done throughout the Netherlands is as a precaution, Haribo says in a statement. The company says it takes the incident ‘very seriously’.

The police are still investigating which type of cannabis is in the sweets and whether they may contain other substances. The National Poisons Information Center Nederland can also bless little about the effects of taking a Haribo candy contaminated with cannabis. « It depends very strongly on the dosage, » said a spokesperson.

4. Are people also the victims of polluted sweets in other countries?

Opposite the German newspaper Bild The manufacturer says that Germans don’t have to be afraid that they eat a candy with cannabis: only Dutch consumers are the victims. That does not mean that foreign media ignore the news from the Netherlands: among other things the BBC,,  » Le Figaro and The New York Post Writing about it. Haribo is a German company.

The Guardian lays Even a link with the tolerance policy of weed in the Netherlands: « Space cake, weed cookies and hashish brownies may be known in the Netherlands, but cannabis in bags of children’s candy is not, » writes the British newspaper. The German broadcaster Deutsche Welle jiggle That « every bottle is an adventure in itself ». That refers to Haribo’s English slogan: « Every Bottle Conceals A Little Adventure of Its Own« .

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