An anthrax scare which led to six people having to undergo decontamination treatment was sparked by crushed Loveheart sweets.

Police today confirmed that a suspicious powder found in the mail at Shipley Sorting Office on Wednesday which sparked a massive emergency operation had been caused by a packet of the sweets which got crushed in transit.

One postal worker who had tasted the powder was taken to Bradford Royal Infirmary for a check-up, while five other postal workers were forced to strip down and go through a decontaminating wash in a mobile unit set up on site.

Police took the suspicious powder away and sent it to the Government's top secret laboratories at Porton Down in Wiltshire for testing. There the tests showed what it really was - children's sweets.

Chief Inspector Steve Hobson, of Keighley police, said: "The substance was crushed sweets. We are treating it as a false alarm, not a deliberate hoax."

He said it was believed the sweets were sent innocently but had been put into the envelope whole and crushed in transit. He said no action would be taken against those involved but called on others to be careful about what they post.

Chief Inspector Hobson said police believed an incident at the Inland Revenue accounts office in Shipley on Thursday, when white powder was found in an envelope, was also not a deliberate hoax. The incident resulted in 1,000 people being evacuated from the premises off Salts Mill Road.