Haribo said it is working with Dutch police to determine how the contamination occurred.

“How the cannabis ended up in the sweets is still unknown,” a spokesperson for Haribo told the Dutch news agency ANP, The Guardian reported. “The police are investigating the matter further.” The authority said the packs concerned were genuine Haribo products.

The company has recalled its entire stock of the affected product in the Netherlands as a precaution. The sweets had a best-before date of January 2026.

The NVWA has urged consumers not to eat the sweets, warning that “bags in circulation can lead to health complaints, such as dizziness, when consumed”.

It remains unclear whether the contaminated items were from genuine Haribo packaging or counterfeit products. Haribo stated that the recall is limited to the Netherlands and that all other products are safe. “The safety of our consumers is our highest priority,” a spokesperson told the BBC, adding that the company is taking the incident “very seriously”.

Haribo, the German confectionery company best known for its gummy candies, especially the iconic Goldbears (gummy bears) was founded in 1920 by Hans Riegel in Bonn, Germany (from which the name Ha-Ri-Bo is derived). The company has become one of the largest and most recognisable sweet manufacturers in the world.