Contaminated Skittles sold at Indiana store

INDIANAPOLIS - Two people who ate from a package of contaminated Skittles required hospital treatment for burning throats, cramping and diarrhea, Indiana authorities said Wednesday night.

The Indiana State Department of Health said in a news release that preliminary tests showed that packages of Skittles sold at a Marathon Food Mart in Richmond had some kind of chemical substances, though what exactly those substances were has yet to be confirmed.

Investigators also don't yet know if the package of candy was tampered with, but Indiana State Police, the Indiana Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have joined the investigation, Health Department spokesman Amy Reel said.

"We'll know more when we get the State Lab results" within a few days, Reel said.

The two people who got sick consumed the Skittles Tuesday afternoon, she said.

Authorities are advising people who purchased Skittles with the lot numbers 08JUL14 023 or 01DEC14 023 not to consume the candy but to place the package in an envelope, hold it in a secure location and contact Indiana State Police.

The Marathon Food Mart convenience store and Skittles distributor Eby Brown have pulled all Skittles with those lot numbers from the market.

Denise Young, a spokeswoman for Skittles producer William Wrigley Jr. Co. of Chicago, said it learned of the issue Wednesday night and was investigating.

"Our first priority is safety and we take this very seriously," Young told The Associated Press.