A baby food company is investigating a Wick mother’s complaint that her five-month-old child almost had “black slime” for her dinner.
Emma Harper, 32, had planned to give daughter, Elena, a pouch of Ella’s Kitchen Plums, Pears, Parsnips and Swedes baby food to suck from.
But because the youngster had been playing up, she decided instead to serve it to her, which is when she discovered what she called a “black squidgy thing” inside.
In a post published on social media, Miss Harper urged parents to be more vigilant.
She said: “I went to give her a pouch but she had been playing up so I decided to give up and put it on to a spoon.
“I gave it a shake and it was making a slushing sound so I transferred it into a bowl.
“It was full of long black bits, at first I thought it was squashed worms or slime out of their machines – that was my impression.
“It came rushing out and when I felt the packet there was something hard in it.
“I cut the packet open and found this black squidgy thing.
“I didn’t know what it was – it was squidgy and gunky.”
In a statement, an Ella’s Kitchen spokeswoman said: “At Ella’s Kitchen we take all concerns raised by our consumers very seriously. We have been in contact with the consumer and have arranged for the product to be returned to us. Initial investigations show that this is an isolated case where mould has grown on the puree due to air being let in through a small hole in the pouch.
“Ella’s Kitchen food is made using the highest quality 100% approved organic ingredients, and has stringent policies on product safety to ensure food quality is of the highest importance.”
Miss Harper said she had binned other packs just in case and would strive to feed her daughter homemade meals from now on.
She added: “I know if I did buy them, I’d be anxious about it and be looking through it and any lump or slime would put me off, so I’ll stick to homemade all the time.”