Video: Tammy-Louise Dundon explains how her daughter nearly swallowed the battery
An urgent nationwide recall has been triggered after a Bulwell mum said her three-year-old daughter found a battery inside a Co-op chocolate bunny.
Tammy-Louise Dundon says her daughter, Sophia, bit into the ears of the Co-op own-brand treat and discovered the lithium battery inside on Saturday (January 28).
She had bought the £1 bunny earlier the same day at the Co-op on Arnold Road, Bestwood Estate.
It comes after Co-op was forced into an earlier recall because of similar batteries found inside chocolate Santas.
Co-op reacted by withdrawing the bunnies from sale and issuing a second nationwide recall.
It is thought the company may be being targeted by a deliberate saboteur, and Notts Police and the National Crime Agency are investigating.
The small batteries, often used in toys, keys and watches, are potentially deadly if swallowed by young children.
They react with saliva and can burn a hole in the oesophagus, or lower throat.
No children have been harmed in this way, but Sophia is thought to be at least the third child to have discovered a battery after two were found in the Santa products.
Speaking to Notts TV News, Ms Dundon, of Birling Close, said: “If she [Sophia] hadn’t been able to tell me that she’d found it, she would’ve swallowed it.
“She probably would’ve been in pain and I wouldn’t have known why.
“It could’ve ended so badly because common sense would tell you that swallowing the battery is dangerous.
“But for children, it’s not only a choking hazard, it’s corrosive; so then it could’ve burned a hole in her oesophagus and burned her from the inside out and, ultimately, resulted in death.”
Ms Dundon says she fears another child could die from accidentally swallowing the batteries and spoke out to encourage action from the Co-op.
Both the Santa and Bunny products are manufactured for Co-op by a supplier based abroad.
She said: “This is the second time in two months children have been put in danger and, with my daughter being one of them, I want to ensure the Co-op feels pressured to really sort the issue out now.
“I just do not want a child to die or have life-threatening injuries.”
In December the Co-op issued a recall of 165,000 hollow chocolate Santas after batteries were found in two of them.
A Co-op spokesman said: “The Co-op is recalling its hollow milk chocolate Easter bunny foil figures after an alleged tampering incident in Nottingham.
“Just over 3,000 units of the product have been sold nationwide. No other products are affected.
“The National Crime Agency, which deals with food tampering incidents, and police forces are helping with the investigation, which is a criminal matter. The Food Standards Agency has been notified and is assisting.
“The health and safety of our customers is uppermost in our minds.
“We are concerned about one incident of alleged product tampering involving our hollow milk chocolate Easter bunny foil figure, which has been found to contain a small battery inside.
“This follows an incident at Christmas when two similar products were targeted and contaminated.
“As a precaution, we have begun a UK-wide product recall and have withdrawn the product from sale.
“Customers with one of these products should not eat it but take the product back to store for a full refund.”
A spokesman for the National Crime Agency confirmed the agency and Notts Police are both working on the matter, but declined to comment further.
