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Irish Daily Mirror
12 hours ago
- General
- Irish Daily Mirror
Mum distraught to find 'metal screw' in son's baby food and says it made him ill
An Irish mum was left aghast after discovering a 'metal screw' in a jar of baby food she was giving to her young son. The Lisburn-based mother, known as Kelly, was gobsmacked to find the foreign object in a jar of Heinz baby food purchased from her local Tesco. While Tesco has expressed uncertainty about how the item got into the jar, Heinz insists it didn't come from their factory. Chatting on The Nolan Show on BBC Radio Ulster on Wednesday, Kelly recounted how she had picked up the Heinz By Nature Spaghetti Bolognese toddler meal from her nearby Tesco for her one year old son Reuben. She had already fed him half the jar before stumbling upon the "absolutely terrifying" discovery of a sharp piece concealed within the meal. "When I was putting it (the food) out, a rivet or nail type item, clearly metal, fell out of the jar. It seemed to be lightweight and light in colour. I'm no metal expert but my guess would be that it's an aluminium rivet and about the size of your thumbnail. "I was completely shocked and didn't know what to think. I called my partner in and we stood there looking at it. We didn't know what to do. I think the worst bit was that these jars keep and I had already fed the baby half of that jar the day before. That was the frightening part about it, it was the second half of the jar that I found the rivet in," reports Belfast Live. "Obviously there's two issues when you find something in a jar of baby food. The main one is the choking hazard when babies are only learning how to chew and how to manage different foods. As an adult we would know to spit that out but babies don't know that so if there's metal in there they'd easily swallow that, choke on it or it'd cause all sorts of issues with its insides. I'm just grateful that I did see it before it was fed to him." Kelly wasted no time getting in touch with Heinz, and they were quick to respond, offering a letter and a £10 (€12) voucher as "a sincere gesture". Explaining further, she recounted, "They (Heinz) were very good at the start and obviously concerned about it. They sent out a package for me to return the piece of metal and the jar lid. Apparently that's how they trace the batch. That came out very quickly in the first class post and returned for them to investigate it. They came back with a letter, again that was very quick, with the outcome of it." However, Kelly expressed dissatisfaction with their response: "They said they'd given the matter their careful attention and consideration that the item is metal (which was obvious) but regrettably we cannot come to any definitive conclusion on its source. "Our processes include powerful magnets and metal detectors and we cannot explain how this issue came to be associated with our product. So there's no outcome and to me that hasn't been investigated properly. There's no mention in the letter of them doing a batch recall, which was the part that concerned me most. "If something has gone wrong in that batch room machinery and there were rivets falling off into the food, in my opinion that whole batch should be recalled. Whether they've done that and not mentioned it in the letter, I don't know. And there's nothing in Tesco to say there's been a recall so to my knowledge it's not being recalled." Kelly says she had to take Reuben to hospital two days later due to a rash all over his body: "It sounds silly now but at the time I didn't associate it with that and now looking back, it could potentially be due to some contamination from that metal. We don't know and we'll never know now." At this stage it is not known how the nail found its way into the product or if this was an isolated incident and similar items have been found in any other products. "That's not enough for me - if you don't know then production needs to stop until you do know. This is metal in baby food," Kelly added. "And for me this was never about money, compensation or anything like that. It literally was a concern and when they came back to say 'here's a voucher', it was for £10 and that's what Heinz valued this incident as. "To me that outraged me, it's insulting, my son could have choked on this and they valued that incident with £10 - would that even get you two bottles of brown sauce because nobody in their right mind would buy any more baby food off them?". After being unimpressed with Heinz's approach, Kelly reached out to Tesco, who explained they couldn't look into the issue as she didn't have the metal shard anymore, having sent it back to Heinz already. Heinz has not yet made a statement regarding the matter. Meanwhile, a Tesco representative shared: "We were sorry to hear about this customer's experience with a Heinz product. We work closely with branded suppliers to ensure that they have robust quality procedures in place and are in ongoing conversations with the supplier about the outcome of their investigation."
Irish Post
20-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Post
Thriving Northern Irish food distribution firm claims access to UK and EU markets is key to success
A FOOD distribution firm in Northern Ireland is reaping the rewards of having access to both the UK and EU markets. NI Secretary Hilary Benn visits the PRM food distribution service in Lisburn (Pics: Lisburn-based PRM says their unique positioning in the North, where the Windsor Framework, a post-Brexit deal struck between Britain and the EU, allows the free movement of goods between Northern Ireland and Great Britain and the EU, is driving their success. 'While Brexit brought with it understandable apprehension, there's no doubt that the Windsor Agreement has unlocked unique advantages for businesses and individuals in Northern Ireland,' Philip Morrow, CEO and Founder of PRM Group, said this week. 'We have found ourselves in a very favourable position perfectly positioned between the UK and EU with full access to both markets,' he explained. 'That's an enviable place to be, and it's been instrumental in shaping our investment decisions and future growth,' he added. NI Secretary Hilary Benn visited the site in Northern Ireland this month (Pics: 'At PRM, it's allowed us to commit £15 million to expanding our Lisburn headquarters and create over 40 new jobs.' Mr Morrow believes more businesses in the North should be capitulating on the unique trading advantage their geographical position gives them. 'Businesses here have been handed the key to the best of both worlds and that's something we should champion, celebrate and capitalise on,' he said. NI Secretary Hilary Benn recently visited PRM's offices in Lisburn, as newly released figures from the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency confirmed the economy in the North grew faster than the UK as a whole in the final quarter of 2024. 'PRM's expansion is a great example of how dual market access is helping Northern Ireland's businesses to expand and create more jobs,' Mr Benn said. 'With full access to both the UK and EU markets, and now new trade opportunities with the US and India, Northern Ireland is uniquely placed for success,' he added. 'These are tangible benefits that are strengthening Northern Ireland's economy and creating prosperity.' See More: Brexit, Lisburn, Northern Ireland, PRM, Windsor Framework
