(NewsNation) — A New Zealand charity has apologized for distributing dozens of pineapple-flavored candies that were actually blocks of methamphetamine enclosed in candy wrappers.

The Auckland City Mission, which donates parcels of essentials to New Zealanders who cannot afford food, said it first became aware of the issue Tuesday afternoon, when some recipients complained about the foul-tasting candies.

Three people, a child, a teenager and a charity worker, sought medical treatment after tasting the sweets. However, none are currently hospitalized, Detective Inspector Glenn Baldwin from Auckland police told reporters. There was no suggestion of wrongdoing by the charity, he added.

Auckland City Mission said Wednesday that staff had started to contact up to 400 people to track down parcels that could contain the sweets.

The amount of methamphetamine in each candy was up to 300 times the level someone would usually take and could be lethal, according to the New Zealand Drug Foundation, which is a drug checking and policy organization that first tested the candies.

Ben Birks Ang, a foundation spokesperson, said disguising drugs as innocuous goods is a common cross-border smuggling technique and more of the candies might have been distributed throughout New Zealand.

The authorities’ “initial perceptions” were that the episode was likely an importation scheme gone awry, Baldwin said, but the nature and scale of the operation was unknown. Officers had recovered 29 of the candies, but did not know how many were circulating, he said Thursday.

One Auckland official said eight families, including at least one child, had reported consuming the contaminated candies since Tuesday. The “revolting” taste led most to immediately spit them out, she said.

The candies had been donated sometime in the past six weeks, Robinson said. It was not clear how many had been distributed in that time and how many were made of methamphetamine.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.