MANLIUS — The Bureau County Sheriff’s Office is working to get to the bottom of the suspicious Halloween candy found in Manlius.

After trick-or-treating on Sunday, Oct. 30, parents came forward with odd looking candy marked as Crunch Choco Bar in wrappers that had small cannabis leaves on it.

Officers performed a field test on the substance and got a positive reading for THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), the intoxicating drug in cannabis.

On Tuesday, Bureau County Sheriff Jim Reed admits there is room for error in the field test, however, he said he’s never seen a false positive test for cannabis throughout his time with the force.

Reed said the candy has been sent into a laboratory, where it will be confirmed 100 percent whether or not it does contain cannabis.

Wednesday afternoon, Reed sent out a press release stating results from the Illinois State Crime Lab in Morton confirmed the candy did not contain THC and was safe for consumption.

While there are items sold in stores that contain hemp oil and hemp seed, Reed confirmed those items do not test positive for THC.

“To get a positive reaction out of this candy is a concern ... That’s why we were taking this seriously,” he said.

Reed said it is believed the candy bars are from another country, possibly made in Japan. He said his department does not believe anyone was trying to intentionally hurt children.

“There was no intention of any harm to children in this matter,” he said. “The candy bars have been deemed safe for consumption.”

Reed said no other information would be released. He said the immediate alert on the issue was sent out as a precautionary safety measure because of the Halloween holiday and also because lab testing would take some time to perform.

Comment on this story at www.bcrnews.com.