A potentially deadly needle has been found in a Woolworths microwave meal served to a child, with the supermarket chain launching an investigation into the alarming discovery.
A furious Sydney mother told Daily Mail Australia her 10-year-old daughter found a 4cm pin in her packaged spaghetti bolognese sauce.
She said there were no holes in the packaging that would indicate the pin had been inserted by a customer in the store and that this must have happened before the packaging was sealed.
“My daughter just screamed, ‘what the hell,’ and then looked at me angrily,” the mother of two said.
“I thought it was a hair or something, but then she pulled the pin out of its socket.”
The mother said she examined the contents of the microwave meal but found no other foreign substances.
She reported the shocking discovery to Woolworths and was told the company would contact the supplier.
The mother was horrified at the thought of what could have happened if her daughter had not noticed the pin before she started eating.
A young mother is furious after finding a large pin in her family’s ready meal
“I’m so angry. If it had been in my five-year-old son’s bowl, he wouldn’t have noticed,” she said.
‘And I’m so distracted when it’s dinner time, I wouldn’t want that either.
‘My daughter is playing with her food. That’s a good first.’
The mother said the pin was so large and sharp that it would have caused injury even if it had not been swallowed.
“It would have pierced the roof of your mouth or cut your tongue, that’s for sure. It would have been a trip to the emergency room,” she said.
A Woolworths spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia: “We take food safety very seriously and we are currently investigating this as a priority with our supplier.”
The meal consisted of this spaghetti from the refrigerated section of Woolworth and the pin was almost 1.5 inches long
“We have not received any other complaints of this nature and believe this is an isolated incident.”
The incident is reminiscent of the contamination crisis that hit the strawberry sector in 2018, when needles were found in dozens of packaged fruits.
The first incident was reported in September 2018, after which a further 230 cases were reported nationwide, affecting 68 strawberry brands.
Forty-nine brands were located in Queensland. In Queensland, 77 incidents were reported. Of these, 15 were believed to be hoaxes or false complaints.
At the time, it was estimated that the farm gate value of Queensland strawberries had fallen by 8 per cent for the 2018-19 financial year, worth approximately $12 million.
A company director was arrested, but charges against him were dropped because he was unlikely to be convicted.