Evening Telegraph (First Edition)

Probe after ‘bat’ found in sweets

- BY RYAN TUTE

AN investigat­ion has been launched after a four-year-old boy opened a bag of sweets and discovered an unwanted intruder.

It’s claimed little Aaron MacPherson found what’s thought to be a tiny bat stuck to gummy sweets purchased at a city supermarke­t.

Mum Claire says the sweets were bought at the Lidl store in Dura Street and has spoken about how horrified she was when she found out about the tiny mammal.

Aaron had been staying with his grandma Francis when he got the sweets.

Claire, who lives at Dura Street, Stobswell, said: “My mum had my son staying with her last weekend and took him to Lidl for some sweets.

“When he got home and opened the packet he found a little bat stuck on to t he sweets. It was absolutely disgusting.”

The 36-year-old mum-of-two said the store was alerted straight away but claims no one from the supermarke­t chain has contacted them to apologise.

She said: “My mum was up all night being sick just at the thought of it and my son still seems in shock.

“The customer service has been terrible.

“No one has been in touch to say sorry or find out about it.

“It’s horrendous. It’s scary to think what kind of diseases it could have.

“I also have a 14-month-old baby and if she had been eating the sweets then she would have put it straight in her mouth.

“I will not be stepping foot in that store again.”

A spokesman for Lidl said: “We were very sorry to hear of this matter. We take customer feedback of this nature very seriously. The store was made aware of the matter and advised the customer to contact our customer services team.

“Our quality assurance team is currently carrying out a full investigat­ion into this matter.”

It’s not known what type of bat was found in the sweets. A spokesman for the Bat Conservati­on Trust said it was feasible that one of the winged creatures could make it into a small packet like this.

He told the Tele: “Bats in the UK are extremely small.

“We have 18 different types and the biggest are only the size of the palm of your hand.

“The smallest are the size of a thumb and baby bats are just the size of a 50p coin.”

It’s not the first time a bat has been found in a package of food. In April, a dead bat was found inside a bagged salad which had been sold at a Walmart supermarke­t in Florida, prompting a recall and investigat­ion by health experts.

 ??  ?? Aaron MacPherson at Lidl and, inset, the not-so-sweet intruder beside the gums.
Aaron MacPherson at Lidl and, inset, the not-so-sweet intruder beside the gums.
 ??  ??
 ??  ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom