It is still unclear how cannabis ended up in Haribo sweets. However, experts believe the chance of a production error is very small. It seems likely that it was intentional.
Haribo recalled kilogram bags of Happy Cola F!ZZ on Thursday because they may have contained cannabis. Several people became unwell after eating the ‘cola bottles’. One child was even in a coma in a hospital in Twente for some time.
Food microbiologist Ralf Hartemink suspects that the cannabis was deliberately added to the sweets by someone. He rules out an error – namely, a mix-up of raw materials in a factory. Cannabis is not used in the food industry, he explained to NU.nl.
Of course, ingredients are sometimes mixed up. It often involves different white powders, such as sugar and salt. However, mixing up sweet ingredients with cannabis is ruled out by Hartemink. That is not in stock in a factory.
Hartemink also does not think that a wrong ingredient was accidentally delivered to Haribo. “A large company like Haribo does not buy from a dodgy dealer, it really comes from certified suppliers.” Haribo uses large quantities of raw materials.
“The only thing left is intent,” Hartemink concludes. But then the question remains: where was the cannabis added? That could have been at any point in the production process: from a raw material supplier to during the production of the sweets themselves.
Not known where raw materials come from
Emeritus professor of Food Technology Tiny van Boekel does not completely rule out a mistake. He is still taking into account the possibility that a supplier supplies raw materials for both food and medical products. And cannabis is processed in some medical products.
“If the supplier also supplies raw materials for other things, such as medical products, they may have made a mistake,” says Van Boekel. “But if there is a raw material supplier that only supplies for food, it can only be malicious intent.”
Van Boekel emphasizes that these are possible scenarios, as the investigation is still ongoing. Much information is therefore not yet known. He is therefore particularly interested in which products the suppliers process.
No test for cannabis
Hartemink sees adding cannabis as bioterrorism. “This is deliberately to make people sick in one way or another.”
He does not think it is strange that the addition of cannabis was not noticed by Haribo during production. “You don’t expect this. You can’t test for it. Tests are carried out for all kinds of known toxic substances and bacteria. But there is no routine testing for cannabis.”
NU.nl asked Haribo for a response. The confectionery manufacturer says it will not comment on possible causes while the police investigation is ongoing. The police also say they cannot make any statement about the investigation.
Haribo does confirm one point: the company does not use cannabis as an ingredient in any of its various sweet variants. Cannabis is therefore not in stock in the factories and cannot have been confused with another ingredient there.