A woman finds a gecko inside a baby formula tin

Mother-of-two, the woman did the discovery a week ago and is now warning other mothers through the Internet posting a warning message to a Sydney mothers’ Facebook group-page. She states that many mothers have contacted her and are “freaking out” over the news

Artilina Castanares bought, as she was doing since 2 years ago, a tin of S-26 Original Process powder in a Rouse Hill Coles supermarket in western Sydney. Nothing unusual until she opened the tin and saw over the powder, beside the spoon, a little and strange shape: a dead  lizard. Castanares was in shock.

“I squealed and dropped it. I was in shock from then on,” Mrs Castanares told to the Sydney Morning Herald. “I opened the tin and there was a funny smell. Its tail was sticking up and, thinking it was a thread, I lifted it up and it was a gecko,”

Mother-of-two, the woman did the discovery a week ago and is now warning other mothers through the Internet posting a warning message to a Sydney mothers’ Facebook group-page. She states that many mothers have contacted her and are “freaking out” over the news.

Mrs Castanares, 30 yesr-old, immediately contacted the product’s contact hotline ‘Careline’. She described how a spokesperson told her in a very casual manner to return the tin to Aspen Australia, the company’s head office. The tin would then be sent overseas for an investigation, a process which would take six to eight weeks because the product had to be sent back to Singapore, where it was manufactured and packaged.

Mrs Constanares considered “unacceptable” that response and wrote on S-26 Original’s Facebook page as well to complain: “Once again unacceptable turnaround, time to do something, batch needs to be called asap as babies could be at risk!!!” Moreover, she also sent an email to Aspen Australia with photos of the tin with the dead lizard inside, but no one  responded, and notified the NSW Food Authority who are investigating further.

In an effort to warn other mothers, Mrs Castanares posted a warning to a Sydney mothers’ Facebook group-page. She states that many mothers have contacted her and are “freaking out” over the news.

Mrs Castanares, who has been using the baby formula for two years, has abruptly stopped after the lizard incident. “I’ve just been turned off formula completely. I started my daughter on cow’s milk that day,” she told the Sydney Morning Herald.

In some circumstances, geckos may present a risk to humans of salmonella poisoning, according to the US Centres for Disease and Control. Ms Castanares said she wants to highlight the risk that something like this could potentially be putting babies at risk of contracting diseases.

“I've just been turned off formula completely. I started my daughter on cow’s milk that day,” she said. After this experience, she would never buy the product again

For the moment, Aspen has refused to say any comment to the media.

By Santi Ivar

Sources:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk 

http://www.smh.com.au

https://au.news.yahoo.com

Photo:

http://images-2.drive.com.au