Concern after mystery object found in daughter’s drink can

Coco-Cola is investigating after a Mosgiel mother was left horrified when she discovered a mysterious object at the bottom of her 4-year-old daughter’s can of Sprite.

Bridgett Taylor has hit out at Coca-Cola’s response to the discovery on Saturday, saying the company told her no-one was able to talk to her at the weekend about what the object might be.

Meanwhile, she was left worrying the object was a battery and her daughter Maddie might have consumed part of it.

Coco-Cola has now said it is looking into the incident.

"We’re really sorry to hear about the customer’s experience. As soon as we were made aware of the issue, we promptly launched an investigation, which is currently in progress," a Coca-Cola NZ spokesman said.

Mrs Taylor said her weekend took a turn for the worse when she gave her daughter a can of Sprite on Saturday after the family arrived home from a holiday.

Mrs Taylor said she had not noticed how fast Maddie finished the drink, as she was busy unpacking, but soon heard a rattling in the can.

The object would not shake out of the can, so she cut the can open to reveal what she thought was a battery.

"It was degraded; all you could see was solder.

"I began to feel very worried she might have swallowed what was connected to the battery."

Mrs Taylor contacted Coca-Cola New Zealand to reach its quality assurance team to answer her concerns — but was "disappointed" to find out the team was not available during the weekend.

She then called the National Poison Centre, which advised watch her to daughter closely over the next 48 hours.

"It was disappointing. I had to spend the weekend anxious as I did not know whether my daughter swallowed anything dangerous.

"She is fine now, but who is to say she didn’t ingest something that could bite back later on?"

Mrs Taylor received a call from a Coca-Cola representative yesterday afternoon, who said a courier bag was being sent to her house, so she could send the object and the can for inspection.

She still did not know whether her daughter was fully safe.

"I gave them the batch and serial numbers but they won’t be able to test the liquid as my daughter drank it.

"I just hope this doesn’t happen to anyone else."

The Coca-Cola spokesman said every can of drink was checked under the company's quality assurance programme.

"This is the first complaint we’ve had of this nature."

titus.lambertlane@odt.co.nz , Cadet reporter