A potentially lethal pin was found inside a Woolworths microwave meal served to a child, and the supermarket giant has launched an investigation into the alarming discovery.
A furious Sydney mother told Daily Mail Australia that her 10-year-old daughter found the 4cm pin inside her packet of spaghetti bolognese.
She said there were no holes in the packaging to indicate the pin had been inserted by a shopper in the store, and that it must have been placed there before it was sealed.
“My daughter just screamed ‘what the hell?’ and then stared at me,” the mother of two said.
“I thought it must be a hair or something and then she took the pin out of its bowl.”
The mother said she investigated the contents of the microwaved food but found no other foreign material.
She reported the shocking find to Woolworths and was told the company would follow up with its supplier.
The mother was shocked to think of what could have happened if her daughter had not seen the pin before she started eating.
A young mother was left furious after finding a huge pin in her family’s ready-made meal.
“I’m so angry. If it had been on my five-year-old’s plate, he wouldn’t have noticed,” she said.
“And I’m so absent-minded that I wouldn’t do it at dinner time either.
“My daughter plays with her food; for once, that has proven to be a good thing.”
The mother said the pin was so large and sharp that it would have caused injury even if she had not swallowed it.
“It would have probably perforated your palate or cut your tongue. You would have had to go to the emergency room,” he said.
A Woolworths spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia: “We take food safety very seriously and are currently discussing this with our supplier as a matter of priority.”
The meal consisted of this spaghetti from the refrigerated section of Woolworth’s and the pin was about 4 cm long.
“We have not received any other complaints of this nature and believe this is an isolated incident.”
The incident echoes the contamination crisis that rocked the strawberry industry in 2018 when needles were found lodged in dozens of packaged fruits.
The first incident was reported in September 2018 and a further 230 cases have been reported across the country, affecting 68 brands of strawberries.
Forty-nine brands were based in Queensland. Seventy-seven incidents were reported in Queensland. Of these, 15 are believed to have been a hoax or false report.
At the time, the farmgate value of Queensland strawberries was estimated to have declined by 8 per cent over the 2018-19 financial year, worth about $12 million.
A farm supervisor was arrested, but charges against him were dropped due to the unlikelihood of obtaining a conviction.
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