A MOTHER was horrified to find a dangerous chemical instead of a toy in her child's fast-food meal.
Joanne Fairbanks, 29, believes Elijah, three, would have been poisoned if she hadn't found the cleaning powder in time.
Joanne took Elijah to McDonald's on Walter Street, Harpurhey, for a Sunday afternoon treat. She got her son a `Happy Meal', the children's fast-food option which typically comes with a toy.
But when she got home to Manchester New Road, Alkrington, she was shocked to find that instead of a Pop Challenge gadget, the meal contained a sachet of industrial cleaning powder.
Joanne, a clerk at Manchester's Civil Justice centre, said: "Normally, if he gets a Happy Meal he just goes straight for his toy, but this time he'd eaten half the food first. Then I looked in the box and found this bag with a powdered substance in it.
"Elijah can't read and could have opened it and then eaten it. I'm concerned he could have eaten a dangerous substance, and it bothers me that he ate the food that was on top of it. The packet says it should be disposed of as `hazardous waste'. All the toys are wrapped in bags which are quite similar to this sachet - he could ended in hospital and I might not have had a clue what it was."
The packet contained 28.4g of `McD sanitizer' for cleaning `shake and soft serve machines, towel buckets and general sanitizing'.
It has a number for the National Poisons Information Service on the front. Joanne has now reported McDonald's to environmental health.
A McDonald's spokesman said: "We have rigorous procedures in place to ensure that incidents of this nature do not occur. We apologise that in this isolated incident our usual standards do not appear to have been met and for any distress this has caused. The safety of our customers and our food is of paramount importance and we have launched an urgent investigation."
What do you think? Have your say.
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sounds like a claim coming mcd's way!!!
Is it me, or has the standard of all fast food outlets dropped considerably over the last few years? Management are paid to ensure staff follow company policy in regards to health and hygiene, which is obviously not been enforced. Will it take the death of someone before standards raise again? And I wonder what percentage of the Manchester population have suffered from food poisoning caused by fast food? Me personally, I've stopped using the big named fast food restaurants, not so much because of the food, more to do with the staff who are not interested in the job they are doing which I think contributes to a poor service all round..
That's it , get them brainwashed at a young age ... since when did 'treat' and McDonalds ever have a connection ?
If you are so concerned about your child's health why take him to McDonalds in the first place!
so let's cut to the chase ... how much compensation were you thinking?
If you are so concerned about your child's health why take him to McDonalds in the first place!
Jomov
26/08/2008 at 11:40
thats so funny and so true its made my day
I know there's an undercurrent of the Mc££££'s on here, but this would have been nasty if the packet hadn't been spotted in time.
God you are all on form today arnt you!
Lets all jump on the band wagon and slag off McDonalds, this was a accident and nothing more she has got her 5 minutes of fame so that’s the end of it.
And even though I don’t regularly buy McDonalds myself I don’t think that there is anything wrong with the food they provide. Why don’t we let people eat what they want to and stop all this food fascism, my way of thinking is if you like it then eat it.
A while back, out of desperation I had no option other than to eat at 'MaccyDees'.
I ordered a ‘Filet o Fish’. Now to me a fillet is a prime, one piece cut from a fish! I bit into it and nearly cut my mouth. There was a huge piece of the 'sharp cartilage' material found in the claws of crabs and lobsters in it!
After complaining, they give me an address to write to.
I kept hold of the offending article and sent it to trading standards.
Legally because they do not refer to it in any advertisement as a 'fish fillet', it can contain any fish or seafood!
Have to laugh, talk about MaccyDees lawyers and the branding people knowing how to get round issues with their sub standard garbage is phenomenal!
Ba ba ba ba baaaaa! I'm not lovin it!
Ive found over the years that Mcdonalds service has gone down ? ive had a few meals from the snipe outlet in ashton and found on several occassions its been cold or over cooked etc and later when ive complained they just said "tough".service from this company is virtually non existant now.