![]() This particular hunt ended at the brightly painted doors of a small candy factory, Fabrica de Dulces Cisne. “We can’t verify all the companies that exist,” said Gerardo Mendoza Ramirez, the chief of the Michoacán Environmental Health Department. Inspectors try to check them for obvious health hazards, but even finding those businesses can be a struggle. The central Mexican state’s Environmental Health Department has registered roughly 32,000 businesses. ![]() Last spring, two environmental health workers drove these streets in a little red truck, stopping abruptly at pot holes, gingerly squeezing down narrow roads, politely asking for directions from taxi drivers and store clerks, all in search of a candy company licensed by the state of Michoacán. The streets in Morelia are pocked like a mouth full of cavities. Research into the widespread presence of lead in candy not only is relatively new but it has one significant barrier to overcome: the problem doesn’t start on U.S. It has taken more than 40 years for government agencies to find effective ways to fight lead in paint and in gasoline, and those battles still aren’t won. ![]() But they emphasize that they are working in uncharted territory. State and federal regulators acknowledge that their efforts need improvement. All the while, candies continue to be sold throughout California that contain enough lead to violate even the most liberal safety guidelines. In a two-year investigation, The Orange County Register found that regulators can’t agree on which rules to follow, who should enforce them and whether to share findings with people who can keep poisonous candies from kids. agents have the staff to inspect only a fraction of the trucks carrying candy from factories and from stores like La Tapatia.Īnd, in the United States, store owners and county health workers say they can’t act on evidence that hasn’t been provided to them. When told this, Ramirez shrugs.Īt the border, U.S. But, as much as he knows his business wouldn’t exist without kids, as much as he is a father with young kids of his own, he is a businessman.Ĭalifornia Department of Health Services records show that more than 80 Mexican candy brands have tested high for lead in the past 10 years. He knows that they’ve been stopped at the border and turned back. Manager Manuel Ramirez knows that some brands of candy in his store have tested high for lead in U.S. Parents pack their trunks with bags for birthday parties and weddings in San Diego, Orange County and Los Angeles. Big trucks load up for sales in California. Advertisements give viewers a glimpse inside the store: kids wide-eyed and giddy, staring up at the towering stacks of candy. La Tapatia Mega Dulces, in the factory district, is stocked floor to ceiling with every imaginable type of Mexican candy: chocolates, lollipops, jelly pots, soft candies with hard centers, hard candies with centers that squirt when you bite into them.Ī store-sponsored, weekly TV show features a man dressed as a giant mouse going on adventures around town. TIJUANA, MEXICO – This place is kid heaven.
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