A mum has sent in a warning about Lidl apples which she claims contained sharp toothpicks.
Susana De Castro, 43, said she bought a bag of apples worth £2.69 at Lidl in Patchway, Bristol, on April 6, but when she ate one of the fruits a week later she noticed something suspicious lurking in it. its interior.
The mother of four said she initially thought the hard-edged object was a thorn, but what she discovered deep beneath the surface of the skin left her shocked.
She claims she discovered what appeared to be sharp toothpicks inside the red apple and said two more pieces of fruit also contained toothpicks.
Susana says that behind the mishap there are “sick people” and, together with her husband Ricardo, 40, warns other parents to be attentive.
Susan De Castro, 43, claims she bought “booby-trapped” apples at a Lidl in Bristol (pictured with her husband Ricardo, 40).
The mother of four claimed to have discovered what appeared to be sharp toothpicks inside the red apple (pictured).
She recalled: “I thought, ‘Oh my God.'” I couldn’t determine if I had reached the other end, but I couldn’t see anything else.
‘I was very shocked. My 12 year old son always takes an apple and eats it; It was lucky he didn’t. My husband was surprised and very angry.
‘It could have easily gone through the roof of my mouth. It was like a booby trap.
“It’s not worth thinking about what could have happened.”
Susana’s daughter caught the entire ordeal on camera and filmed her mother peeling the rest of the apples that were left in the bag.
In the clip, the mother can be seen cautiously cutting the apple into small pieces with a knife.
As he removed the pieces, he questioned how the apples could have been contaminated and confirmed that there was “no hole” in the fruit.
Shortly into the video, he paused and shouted, “it’s a toothpick, it’s a toothpick.” What the hell?’
Susana says that behind the mishap there are “sick people” and now warns other parents to be attentive (in the photo: Susana discovers a toothpick in the apple)
In a video recorded by her daughter, the mother shows her terrifying discovery.
Eager to get to the bottom of the matter, she looked at another apple that also seemed to contain a toothpick.
After opening a third fruit from the bag, he revealed that he had found the same result.
‘What the hell is wrong with people?’ she asked.
The family returned the packet of apples to Lidl the next day, claiming the manager was very apologetic and issued a refund.
Susana said: ‘[The manager] He was taken aback and said they were going to contact the farmer.
‘This was really shocking because it came straight from the supermarket. Has anyone been sticking toothpicks into apples? Because?
‘We want to warn other parents to be vigilant and be very careful. You see pictures on social media of needles in chocolate on Halloween and stuff like that, but you never think it’s actually going to happen.
He said two more apples from the £2.69 bag also contained toothpicks.
Lidl said they regretted the incident but said they “have not had any similar complaints”.
‘All supermarkets, all those that have fresh products, must be attentive.
“There are obviously very sick people doing this. It’s really scary. Do you think they can put more there?
“We have told the children that they should be very careful and let us cut them first.”
Lidl said they regretted the incident but said they “have not had any similar complaints” so they did not believe there was cause for further concern.
However, they confirmed that they would investigate further when Susana contacted them again.
Lidl stressed that there were no other complaints of this nature in its records.
A Lidl spokesperson said: “We are sorry to hear about this experience and although we have not had any similar complaints, we encourage the customer to contact our customer services team with the requested details to allow us to carry out a thorough investigation.”