Nails, screws, needles and other dangerous objects were found in candy collected by children on Halloween in different regions of Germany, authorities said Monday. A 9-year-old girl injured her tongue after biting into a chocolate bar containing a pin measuring at least five centimeters, which she had collected during her Halloween tour in Bremervörde (north), Rotenburg police said.
In Munich, a 9-year-old child who had gone door-to-door with other classmates on Saturday bit into a piece of candy where there was a nail, police said, adding that he spat it out without hurting himself. In Burg, on the island of Fehmarn (north), an 11-year-old girl found a three-centimeter-long sewing needle in a chocolate bar. She had also gone candy shopping with a friend of the same age.
Metal staples in chewing gum
In Umpferstedt, near Weimar (east), metal staples were found in chewing gum collected during a Halloween tour by two children aged 11 and 12, according to the police. Other cases have been reported throughout Germany, such as last year when a mother discovered a razor blade in the sweets collected by her children.
Halloween, a holiday of Anglo-Saxon origin, has become popular in Germany since the 1990s thanks to films, American television series, commerce and costume parties. Today, many German children dress up in costumes and go door to door asking for candy, but the practice has no deep historical roots in the country.
