A horrified mother has taken aim at a supermarket after she bit down into a rusty sewing needle inside her salad.
Helen Paton from Perth in Western Australia believes she had a close call after discovering the sharp implement inside a Coles Kitchen coleslaw mix worth $2 (£1.12).
The mum-of-two told 7 News that she thought she had bitten into a hard stick of chopped coleslaw - only to realise that it felt more like a piece of metal.
Ms Patton then emptied her mouth to discover the large rusted needle.
Thankfully she was not harmed as she "didn't chew it", but was left feeling "shocked" that it was inside.
Helen is now hoping that Australian supermarket chain Coles considers recalling the product to prevent any other customers potentially getting hurt.
"Someone could have impaled their mouth, they could have swallowed it", she said.
"I think it’s quite a lethal potential."
Coles have since apologised, and confirmed on Tuesday that police will be contacted over the incident
A spokesperson said: “We are very concerned to hear this and we would like to extend our apologies”
“Please be informed that this incident will be referred to police for investigation.”
Back in 2018, thousands of strawberries were destroyed following a scare in Australia that saw needles being found inside the red fruits.
Punnets containing tiny swing needles wedged into the strawberries were reported in all six states throughout Australia, with one minister calling it a "vicious crime" and others suggesting a rogue fruit packer may have been to blame.
A number of brands including Berry Obsession, Berry Licious and Donnybrook Berries were pulled from the shelves, and supermarkets Aldi and Coles stopped selling the fruit for several weeks.
Some of the reported cases were later dismissed as hoaxes, while several of the 100 total reported incidents were believed to be 'copycat' acts of contamination.
