State health officials are warning Indiana residents to hold off on tasting the rainbow after two people were treated for burning throats, cramping and diarrhea after eating Skittles, according to NBC News.
The Indiana State Department of Health said in a news release that two individuals, whose names and ages were not released, had to hospitalized after sharing the same bag of Skittles, purchased at a Marathon Food Mart in Richmond, IN.
According to NBC News, tests conducted on Wednesday showed that the colorful bag of candy contained unconfirmed chemical substances. Investigators later purchased 11 more bags from the store that shared the same lot number and tested them as well.
"We felt if we could get them off the shelf our self then we would," said Jason Howard, Environmental Health Specialist with the Wayne County Health Department, on Wednesday.
NBC News reported that the Indiana State Police, Indiana Department of Homeland Security, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had reportedly joined forces on the investigation. Health Department spokesman Amy Reel said officials were unsure if the candy had been tampered with.
However, Food Safety News reported that further testing proved that no unusual chemical substances were found in the packages of Original Skittles and that the Skittles were safe to eat.
As a result of the news breaking, the Marathon Food Mart convenience store and Skittles distributor Eby Brown reportedly pulled all Skittles with the lot numbers 08JUL14 023 or 01DEC14 023, NWITimes.com reported.
"The safety of our consumers and the quality of our products are our top priorities," Denise Young, Wrigley spokesperson, said. "We commend the Indiana State Department of Health for their swift and thorough investigation into this issue."
This is not the first time tainted Skittles have resulted in a person becoming ill. In July 2009, a four-year-old girl in Florida was hospitalized after eating Skittles from a bag that had several Oxycontin pills mixed in with the candy.
