A mum has claimed Kinder Eggs led to her four-year-old daughter being hospitalised with liver failure.
Gemma Gray, 38, from Maghull, said she would buy the popular treat for her daughter Kyia Fenwick, every day after school. However, she now believes it was the chocolate that led to Kyia becoming very ill and spending time in two hospitals.
Kinder's Surprise Eggs were recalled by the company earlier this month due to a "potential link to a salmonella outbreak". A number of these cases were among young children. Insiders report that more than 150 cases of Salmonella have been linked to the chocolate eggs.
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Gemma told the ECHO : " I always buy her Kinder Eggs after school - she lives on them, they’re her favourite thing. Kyia had no history of illness but she began vomiting about six or seven weeks ago. Gemma phoned a doctor, who said she was likely suffering from a bug.
" She was just vomiting. In the early hours of the morning, she’d wake up screaming and just vomit everywhere."
However, the vomiting continued and Gemma noticed what appeared to be signs of jaundice. She said: "She kept being sick every couple of days and then, in the night I noticed that her eyes were getting a tinge of yellow. When I woke up the next day, her eyes were yellow and her face was yellow."
Kyia was admitted to Ormskirk Hospital on March 31, where it was found her liver functions were beginning to worsen and her blood was clotting excessively. She was placed on a number of medicines and diagnosed with seronegative acute liver failure.
Gemma added: "We were in Ormskirk for about two weeks and they couldn’t get to the bottom of why her bloods kept going up and up and why her liver was failing. We were waiting for a place with Leeds Liver Unit.
"We went there and they managed to get her bloods (clotting) down with all kinds of medicine. She was on everything - she was having her blood taken every single day.
"In the end, her bloods started going down, but they were looking at a liver transplant at one point."
Kyia's condition is now more stable and she was able to return home earlier this week. However, she is still not back to her former self. Gemma said: " She came out of hospital a couple of days ago. She’s back at home now but she’s on all kinds of medicine. She’s got to keep getting her bloods done and she’s waiting for a biopsy for her liver in Leeds.
Gemma added: "She’s still poorly, she had to go and get her blood tested today - she gets tested twice a week and seven oral tests ever day. She gets tired easily - she’s still not 100%, her eyes are still yellow, the yellowness on her face is going, but her eyes are still yellow."
Fearing Kinder Eggs had made Kyia sick, Gemma asked both hospitals if they were able to test for salmonella, but they did not. She said: "The Kinder Eggs is all that I can think of. All these kids are getting sick and the company has recalled them. I’ve put it down to that. She was a healthy girl - she wasn’t born with the condition, so it must be something she’s eaten or drank.
Gemma added: " My son doesn’t have them, so I think that’s why he hasn’t got sick.
Ferrero, which owns Kinder, said: “We are very sorry to hear about Kyia and our sincere thoughts are with her and her family at this time. We deeply regret this matter. We continue to work closely with the food safety authorities to support their investigations.
"Food safety, quality and consumer care have been at the heart of Ferrero since the company was founded. We are taking every step necessary to preserve the full trust and confidence of our consumers.”
On April 25, the company stated on its website: "We continue to co-operate with the UK Food Standards Agency, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland and Food Standards Scotland in relation to the ongoing salmonella investigations relating to Kinder products made in Arlon, Belgium.
"We have recalled the entire production of Kinder Surprise 20g, Kinder Surprise 20g x 3 multipack, Kinder Mini eggs 75g, Kinder Egg Hunt Kit 150g, Kinder Surprise 100g and Kinder Schokobons (all pack sizes) made in Arlon, Belgium. No other Kinder products are affected by this recall.
"If you have one of these listed products do not consume it. Please keep the product and contact our consumer care team on consumers.uk@ferrero.com or consumers.ireland@ferrero.com. We deeply regret this matter and sincerely apologise to all our consumers.
"Food safety, quality and consumer care have been at the heart of our business since the company was founded. This serious event goes to the core of what we stand for and we will take every step necessary to preserve the full trust and confidence of our consumers."
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