Fruit Candy, Marinated Cabbage Banned : Food: The products have been found to contain dangerous levels of lead and should not be consumed, county health officials say.

A fruit candy popular with Latinos and a marinated cabbage liked by Asians were banned by Orange County health officials on Friday for having dangerous levels of lead.

The County Health Care Agency’s environmental health division warned consumers to throw the products away and deployed field workers to remove the contaminated items from grocery, liquor and convenience stores countywide, starting with outlets in heavily Latino and Asian communities.

Robert E. Merryman, director of the county’s environmental health unit, said Picarindo brand tamarind candy obtained from a vending cart was discovered during a routine inspection to contain higher lead concentrations than the county has ever measured in a food product.

He said the jellylike candy sold in pottery crocks shaped like flowerpots was tested in a state laboratory and found to have lead concentrations from 3 parts per million to 83 parts per million.

“These levels are 12 to 332 times higher than the (federal) Food and Drug Administration’s . . . emergency action level for lead in food,” Merryman said in a statement alerting the public to discard the candy along with its clay container, which may be responsible for causing the contamination.

Merryman said in an interview that he is especially worried because the candy is consumed by children who are most susceptible to lead poisoning, which can damage kidneys and the central nervous system and result in learning disabilities.

But no illness has been reported so far, he said.

Prosy dela Cruz, regional administrator for the food and drug branch of the California Department of Health Services, said there are no FDA standards for lead allowable in food sold in clay containers. The standard Merryman is using, she said, applies instead to food stored in lead-soldered cans.

But she added that there is still sufficient reason to stop sales of the candy. She said that on Monday, the state intends to halt further sales at the Los Angeles company that distributes the candy, which is manufactured in Mexico.

Tom West, a health specialist for the Los Angeles County’s environmental health division, said the candy distributor, Mojica Produce, already has agreed to stop selling the product.

West said health officials in Los Angeles County are awaiting confirmation of test results on the candy before taking steps to remove it from retail stores there.

No company representatives could be reached for comment Friday.

The marinated cabbage, the Greatwall brand Tianjin Preserved Vegetable made in China, also has raised concerns of lead contamination, although the amount is much less than that found in the candy.

Dela Cruz said the state Department of Health Services and the city of Vernon have taken action that seems to have stopped all sales of the cabbage in Los Angeles County.

Two distributors of the cabbage, garlic and salt product, Hocean Food in Los Angeles and United Asian Food Co. in Vernon, have agreed to voluntarily recall the product, Dela Cruz said.

She said health inspectors earlier this week were unable to find any more of the cabbage when they checked store shelves in Chinatown, Monterey Park and Hacienda Heights.

However, the contaminated cabbage is still being sold in Orange County, according to Merryman. He said county health officers on Friday removed about 3,000 containers of the cabbage from local stores, along with about 100 containers of the contaminated candy.

“We are going to do more embargoes (of the distributors of the contaminated cabbage) in Orange County,” Dela Cruz said.

Merryman said county health officials during a routine market inspection gathered samples of the contaminated cabbage that Asians mostly use for seasoning, and sent them for testing to a state laboratory. The test results, showing lower concentrations of lead than what was found in the candy, were received Thursday.

Like the candy, Merryman said, the cabbage is sold in a pottery container and raised the suspicions of health inspectors because improperly fired pottery can leach lead into food.

The cabbage he had tested contained 12 times as much lead as the federal government allows, Merryman said.