The Rinda brand pineapple lollies were in a sealed retail sized package. The Mission only accepts commercially manufactured food for inclusion in food parcels and the lollies appeared as such when donated. 

We received an alert of concern by a food parcel recipient who said they had ‘funny tasting’ lollies.  As a measure of safety, lollies still on site were tested by NZ Drug Foundation. Tests confirmed that the lollies tested contained potentially lethal levels of methamphetamine. 

We also contacted the NZ Police who came immediately to our site. 

Public safety is our key concern. Yesterday we began the process of contacting possible recipients to inform them of the issue and give them guidance on next steps.  We have also put-up posters on all of our sites and directly contacted our tenants to alert everyone we can of the situation. We will continue to contact people with urgency and utilize our partner networks to ensure wider distribution of appropriate information. 

Our immediate priority is safety of people we support.   In time we will conduct an internal investigation to understand if our processes can be improved. 

To say we are devastated is an understatement.   We are reliant on the generosity of the public to help support people in need, and we are thankful to everyone who supports us.