BAD APPLE
I’m terrified my Lidl apple was BOOBY TRAPPED by ‘sick’ individual targeting supermarkets
Something suspicious was lurking under the apple's skin
ONE mum bit into an apple only to find a "booby trap" under the skin and now fears a "sick" individual is targeting fresh supermarket produce.
Susana De Castro from Bristol says she found something suspicious lurking underneath a red apple's skin.
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The 43-year-old thought the hard object was a thorn and began attempting to pick it out before realising it was a toothpick.
The mum-of-four opened up the apple and was horrified to uncover the rest of the sharp-edged stick buried into the middle of the fruit.
She then peeled the remainder of the apples left in the £2.69 bag - and claims two more of the fruit contained the dangerous item.
Susana feels grateful one of their children did not seriously harm themselves by eating the tampered fruit - and she is now warning other parents to remain vigilant.
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She had purchased the apples from Lidl in Patchway, Bristol, on April 6th and ate the apple five days later.
Lidl said they were sorry to hear about the incident but said they "haven't had any similar complaints" so did not believe there was cause for wider concern.
Susana said: "I thought oh my god. I couldn't work out if it had gone through to the other end but I couldn't see anything else.
"I was very shocked. My 12-year-old always just grabs an apple and tucks in - it was so lucky he didn't. My husband was shocked and really angry.
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"It could've easily gone through the roof of my mouth. It was like a booby trap.
"It doesn't bear thinking about what could've happened."
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The family returned the pack of apples to Lidl the following day - claiming the manager was 'very apologetic' and issued a refund.
They are now warning other parents to remain vigilant of suspicious items lurking in their supermarket produce.
Susana said: "[The manager] was baffled and said they were going to get in contact with the farmer.
"This was really shocking because it came straight from the supermarket. Did somebody go around sticking toothpicks in the apples? Why?
"We want to warn other parents to be vigilant and be extra careful. You see pictures on social media of needles in chocolate on Halloween and things but you never think it's actually going to happen.
"All supermarkets - everywhere that has fresh produce - needs to be vigilant. Obviously there's some very sick people out there doing this.
"It's really scary. You think what else can they put in there? We've told the kids you need to be very careful and let us cut them up first."
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Lidl stressed that there had been no other complaints of this nature in their records.
A Lidl spokesperson said: "We were sorry to learn about this experience and while we haven't had any similar complaints we would encourage the customer to contact our Customer Care team with the requested detail to enable us to carry out a thorough investigation."
Woman arrested over strawberry contamination after sewing NEEDLES ‘deliberately’ hidden in supermarket fruit
A WOMAN was arrested in 2018 over strawberry contamination in Australia after several needles where found hidden inside the fruit.
Punnets with the affected fruit were found in several Aussie states, including Victoria, Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia, and Australian Capital Territory.
The arrest came after a mum claimed she found needles hidden inside strawberries bought at a supermarket in New South Wales.
She said the first needle was discovered when her daughter bit into one of the strawberries and found the hidden item.
After checking the rest of the punnet she claimed to find two more needles.
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