Skittles Tampering: Should You Check Your Child's Candy from the Grocery Store?

I recently bought some of my daughter's favorite candy for her at the grocery store--Skittles. I never, in a million years would have thought that I needed to check the candy the way I would routinely check candy after Halloween and trick or treat. However, recently I saw on the news that in the central Florida area there have been cases of children who have bought Skittles from the grocery store which have been tainted with various contaminants such as cocaine and Oxycontin. So how do you know that the candy that your child got from the grocery store is safe? Or is it safe?

Checking Candy Bags for Tamper:

Begin by making sure that the candy bag that your child gets is not tampered. This of course comes into effect throughout Halloween but more recently it has become an issue at the grocery store as well. Gone are the days when you can buy something from the store and give it directly to your child thinking that it is perfectly safe! Check every package and wrapper before allowing your child to take the candy and eat it. Make sure that there are no signs of tampering with the seal of the packaging of the candy and also make sure that the packaging is fully intact.

Buy Candy In Large Quantity:

Another way that you can prevent from buying candy that has been tampered with or that has possible contaminants in it from the grocery store is to buy a large bag of candy that has many fun size bars inside. Again, make sure that the main bag has not been tampered with so that you know that the individual candy bars inside the bag have not been tampered with. In most cases, the individual bars inside the main bag will not have been touched because they are wrapped in a larger outer bag that protects the entire batch of candy.

Pay Attention To Your Kids:

In both cases so far about the tampering of Skittles candy that children have come into contact with, the children have been the ones to show concern. In the first known case, in which cocaine was involved, the child told his mom that the Skittles didn't "taste" right. In the most recent case, the child recognized a difference in taste but the mother ignored the child's comments only for her daughter to end up sick from ingesting Oxycontin (a pain reliever) when eating the Skittles. In both cases of the candy that should have been inspected by the parents before the child ate it the candy tasted differently! SO, for future reference, pay attention to your children when they are eating candy from the grocery store for they may have something important to tell you!