Essex Trading Standards officers are warning parents and retailers to beware of potentially deadly sweets that may be on sale in the county.

These products are called mini fruit gel sweets, and contain a substance called konjac.

They present a serious risk of choking and have been linked to a number of deaths around the world, including that of a young UK child in February.

The jellies are packaged in small dome-shaped plastic pots about 3cm in diameter, sealed with a foil lid, about the size of an individual coffee creamer.

They are sold individually and in bags or jars, and some packets may be labelled with precautionary advice.

Children tend to suck out and 'inhale' the sweet, which contains a soft, slippery jelly and a chewy, fruit-flavoured konjac gum at the centre, a combination which is said to increase the risk of choking because the gum does not dissolve easily and could stick in the throat.

Cllr Peter Martin, Essex County Council cabinet member for planning, enterprise and regeneration, warned: "These particular sweets present a risk to children and should be removed from sale immediately."

Published Wednesday March 13, 2002