5-Month-Old Chokes On Fingernail … Found In His Baby Food
Parents of Theodore Bovington had a rather unwelcome surprise when the 5-month-old started choking after a bite from a jar of Heinz baby food. Panicked, they intervened to remove the obstruction, discovering that it was a fingernail.
According to the Welwyn Hatfield Times, Christopher Bovington, Theodore’s father, began to panic when his 5-month-old started choking. The boy’s mother, Charis Bailes, began to scream. “She held his head and was trying to get [the obstruction], but every time he coughed it moved further backwards,” Christopher said. Ultimately, he was able to remove a fingernail from the boy’s scratched throat. The parents were, understandably, shocked and appalled.
Christopher said that he was upset by Heinz’s response to the issue, as well. Though they said that they would launch an investigation, they misspelled his name as “Bollington” in a statement to the newspaper. According to reports, they did not admit guilt or issue an apology.
A Heinz spokesperson was equally vague when responding to The Huffington Post:
“The quality and purity of our baby foods remains our utmost priority. We were concerned to hear from Mr Bovington and his experience with one of our baby foods. Great care and attention is given to every aspect of preparing and making our products, from sorting and screening of ingredients to the stringent precautions and exacting standards adhered to during manufacture. This variety is also strained through an extremely fine mesh. This is an isolated complaint and we are keen to carry out a full investigation.”
Baby food tampering cases pretty much guarantee a manufacturer a lot of negative attention and bad press. In 2004, Gerber’s banana yogurt was found to contain small traces of ricin, a deadly poison. According to the LA Times, these jars also contained threatening notes, though an FDA doctor said that the contaminated jars would only cause stomach discomfort if consumed.
How would you react if you found a fingernail in your baby’s food?
