Toronto police are urging parents to thoroughly check all the candy their children received while trick-or-treating on Halloween after an 11-year-old Toronto girl found a razor blade buried inside a chocolate bar she bit into.

“I have no idea how she didn’t get harmed by that but she did not,” Const. David Hopkinson told CP24 Saturday evening. “There were no injuries and police were called. I mean, it was blind luck. She could have been quite seriously harmed by a razor blade stuck in a chocolate bar – that’s concerning for me and it should be concerning for everyone.”

Police said the girl went trick-or-treating with her family in the city’s Little Italy neighbourhood last week, in an area bounded by Dundas Street, College Street, Manning Avenue and Palmerston Avenue.

The family returned home and the candy was not immediately checked over, Hopkinson said.

“She didn’t open it until last night and when she bit into it she found a razor blade secreted in a chocolate bar,” he said.

While some people tend to dismiss reports about dangerous objects in candy as Halloween myths, Hopkinson said the incidents – and the danger – are very real.

“I know that a lot of people think that it’s an urban myth, planting things in candy, but unfortunately it’s not,” Hopkinson said. “We’re advising parents please, check the Halloween candy to make sure there’s nothing harmful to your children.”

Candy-checking tips

  • Don’t give your children opened candy
  • Always inspect the wrappers
  • Make sure there are no breaks or tears in the wrapper
  • Check to make sure that it doesn’t look like it’s been tampered with or re-glued.

This is the third report of a child finding a potentially harmful item hidden in a piece of Halloween candy in Toronto this year.

On Nov. 3, police say a three-year-old girl bit into a chocolate bar that contained a needle in North York.

On Nov. 2, the parents of a girl who went trick or treating in Scarborough’s Beaches neighourhood found a thumbtack inside a chocolate bar she had collected during Halloween.

In the Niagara Region, there have been two reports of razor blades found inside candy this Halloween.

Police say anyone found to have tampered with Halloween candy could face serious charges.

“If an injury occurs, then its’ assault with a weapon or other charges,” Hopkinson said. “Just tampering with the candy itself would be considered mischief. Interfering with the lawful enjoyment of property – it is a more serious offence and it does carry a jail sentence. It’s a criminal offence.”

Anyone with information about the latest harmful discovery is asked to call police at 416-808-1400, or Crime Stoppers at 416-222-8477 (TIPS).