Is Halloween Candy Safe to Eat? What Florida Found in Twizzlers, Jolly Rancher and Kit Kat (2026)
The short answer
You tear open a big bag of Kit Kats. You fill the orange bowl by the front door, and the grandkids come at six.
Florida's health department says it found arsenic in 28 of the 46 candies it tested. Kit Kat, Twizzlers and Jolly Rancher were on its list. All three are Hershey candy.
No recall followed Florida's test. So what goes in your bowl next is up to you.
What this guide answers
What else in your house came home in a big bag?
The free 3 minute scan goes room by room and tells you what to swap first. You give a first name and a cell, and your score comes by one text. It is free because I would rather you see your own shelf than take my word for it.
Take the free home scanWhat did Florida find in Hershey's candy?
Quick answer: arsenic in seven of the ten Hershey candies it tested, by the state's count.
You stood in the candy aisle longer than you meant to, a big bag in each hand.
You want the kids at the door to light up. No shame in that. Hershey is the one who decides what goes in the bag.
In January 2026, Florida released its health department's tests on 46 candies from 10 companies. Its release says, "Arsenic was detected in 28 of the products tested."
The state posted every result on one page. Ten of the candies were Hershey's. The state says it found arsenic in seven of those ten.
Its top Hershey number was Jolly Rancher Sour Apple, at 540 parts per billion. Twizzlers Watermelon came in at 510, and Twizzlers Strawberry at 500. Kit Kat was 230.
Arsenic, the metal Florida says it found
The state's page names the risk. Too much arsenic "can increase the risk of cancers, including lung, skin, kidney, and bladder," it says.
That is a hard thing to read next to a Kit Kat. Nothing on Hershey's bag tells you what the state's test found. Florida went one step further and did the math.
How much is too much, by the state's math?
Quick answer: for a child, four pieces of Twizzlers Strawberry in a whole year, the state says.
The state worked out a rough "safe" amount for a whole year.
For a child, it puts the yearly limit at four pieces of Twizzlers Strawberry. For Jolly Rancher, it is six pieces. For Kit Kat, it is under two and a half pieces.
And you count too. The state's adult limit for Twizzlers Strawberry is under ten pieces a year. For Kit Kat, it is six.
Four pieces is a small handful from the bowl. By the state's math, that is the whole year.
Here is all of it side by side. The last column is the fair part.
| What happened | The concern | Named authority and date | What it does NOT mean |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arsenic in Jolly Rancher Sour Apple | 540 parts per billion, by the state's test | Florida Department of Health, January 2026 | The candy makers' group disputes the test |
| Arsenic in Twizzlers Strawberry | A child's yearly limit of four pieces, the state says | Florida Department of Health, January 2026 | No recall followed |
| Arsenic in Kit Kat | 230 parts per billion, by the state's test | Florida Department of Health, January 2026 | The lowest Hershey number the state found |
| Jolly Rancher alert in Britain | Mineral oil the agency called unsafe to eat | UK Food Standards Agency, June 2025 | It covered British shelves, not US ones |
Has Hershey been in trouble over Jolly Rancher before?
Quick answer: yes. In June 2025, Britain told shoppers not to eat it.
Mineral oil, the reason Britain pulled Jolly Rancher
This one is not about arsenic. On June 11, 2025, Britain's Food Standards Agency put out a food alert on Jolly Rancher. It covered the hard candy and three other kinds. In January 2026, it added two more.
The alert says the candy holds mineral oil, "making them unsafe to eat." The agency says that oil can damage DNA and may raise the risk of cancer.
The agency was fair about it. It said the risk to anyone who already ate some was low. The worry was eating it often, over a long time.
Hershey had already pulled it from British shelves in 2024, the agency says. Other sellers kept bringing it in. Florida tested the Jolly Ranchers sold here for metals like arsenic. The candy makers have an answer for that.
Isn't Florida's test just a scare?
Quick answer: the candy makers say so, and their best point is about the test itself.
Here is the part you are probably thinking. One state test is not the last word.
The National Confectioners Association speaks for the candy makers. Its statement says, "Chocolate and candy are safe to eat."
In February 2026, the group said Florida used a test built for soil and water, not food. It says that pushed results up by as much as 3,800%.
That is a real point, and I am not going to pretend otherwise.
The state's own table helps Hershey, too. It did not find arsenic in three of the ten.
So why does it still sit wrong with me?
Because the fight is over the test, and the bag in your hand settles nothing. Hershey prints no arsenic number on the bag. And Britain flagged Jolly Rancher over mineral oil months before Florida's results.
What do you put in the bowl instead?
Quick answer: treats from a farm you know, or ones you make yourself.
I would skip the big Hershey bag this year. If one is already in your pantry, I would not hand it out.
Find a farm near you that sells maple candy. Go meet the farmer and ask how they make it. A farmer who is proud of it will tell you. And so you know what is in the bag.
Or make it yourself. A pan of caramel corn takes one evening. Tie each handful up in cellophane with a ribbon.
This will not work for every child at the door. Some parents toss anything homemade from a house they do not know. So save the homemade bags for the grandkids and the neighbors who know your porch.
For the rest of your house, I point you to Switch to America. It is a private membership store. We are the manufacturer. No middlemen, no markup.
Start this week. Find one farm stand within a short drive and go say hello.
Shannon's Advice
Straight talk from ShannonI do not call them grocery stores. They are poison centers meant to do you and your family harm. It is not just the brands who are doing the harm, it is the stores themselves. They allow these toxic products on their shelves. People are sick and dying. This is a very serious matter. How can we ever trust them again?
We can't trust them. That is where Switch to America comes in. We are a new supply chain, built on family values, trust and affordability.
You do not have to take my word for it. The proof is in my blog posts, the recalls, the lawsuits and the fines, and in the app I built called The Family Home Toxic Scorecard. Also, inside my Switch Circle private community, we talk about real solutions.
Women come to me exhausted, in pain, stressed out, and on a list of prescriptions they never wanted. I have spent over 20 years helping women get off prescription medications. I help families reclaim their health.
We cannot stop them. I have stopped expecting to. However, we can stop walking into their stores. We are linking arms and together taking our control back. Control of our health and our finances.
Start by clicking the link below and taking the SCAN.
The receipts
- State of Florida news release, January 26, 2026. The state says its Department of Health tested 46 candies from 10 companies and found arsenic in 28. What it means: by the state's account, more than half the candy it tested had arsenic in it.
- Florida's candy results page. The state lists Jolly Rancher Sour Apple at 540 parts per billion, Twizzlers Strawberry at 500 and Kit Kat at 230. It puts a child's yearly limit at four pieces of Twizzlers Strawberry. What it means: the state names the bag, not just the company.
- UK Food Standards Agency alert, January 2026, via Heart of the South West Trading Standards. The agency says six Jolly Rancher candies hold mineral oil, "making them unsafe to eat." Hershey removed them from the UK market. What it means: one country has already pulled Hershey's Jolly Rancher off its shelves.
- NationalWorld, June 11, 2025. The agency told shoppers, "Don't buy them." What it means: the warning went straight to shoppers, not just to stores.
- Confectionery Production, February 21, 2026. The National Confectioners Association says Florida used a soil and water test that inflated results by as much as 3,800%. What it means: the candy makers dispute the numbers, and nobody has settled it.
- CPSC recall, September 10, 2026. Ricky Joy recalled about 2.3 million Sour Crush rolling liquid candy bottles. The rolling ball can come off and cause choking. What it means: check the candy drawer for these before the grandkids come.
Who do you become?
You become the one who knows whose kitchen the treats came from.
It is Saturday, October 31, a little after six. The bowl by the door is full of caramel corn you made last night. The kitchen still smells like butter and brown sugar.
The doorbell rings. Your granddaughter reaches in with both hands, and you let her take two.
You are not counting pieces against a yearly limit. It took one farm stand and one evening to start.
Three minutes, room by room
The candy bowl was one thing. The free scan checks the rest of your house and tells you what to swap first. A first name and a cell, one text with your score, and nobody calls. It costs nothing because your own shelves will tell you more than I can.
Take the free home scanWhat else do people ask?
Is Halloween candy safe to eat this year?
In January 2026, Florida said it found arsenic in 28 of the 46 candies it tested. Twizzlers, Jolly Rancher and Kit Kat were on its list. The candy makers' group disputes the test. No recall followed Florida's test, so the choice is yours. One candy was recalled this fall for a different reason. On September 10, 2026, Ricky Joy recalled about 2.3 million Sour Crush rolling liquid candy bottles, because the rolling ball can come off and choke a child.
Which Hershey candies did Florida flag?
The state says it found arsenic in seven. They are two Jolly Ranchers, three Twizzlers, Kit Kat and Cookies 'N' Creme. That is one test, and the candy makers dispute it.
Should I throw out the bag I already bought?
I would. The state puts a child's yearly limit at four pieces of Twizzlers Strawberry. Fill the bowl from a farm stand or your own oven instead.
My family has eaten Twizzlers for years and we are fine. Why switch?
That counts for something. But fine so far is not a safety test. You get to be the one who did not wait to find out.
Keep reading
- Are food dyes still legal in American food? What is in the snack cupboard
- Florida subpoenas General Mills over potassium bromate in Pillsbury and Gold Medal flour
- What happened to the ultra processed food lawsuit?
- Are pancake and baking mixes actually healthy? What is in the box
- Free: the Is My Home Toxic cheat sheet 40 products, 6 rooms.