Aldi mum's scary warning about shower gel: 'Skin turned red'
An Aldi customer has expressed her shock online after a popular Aldi product caused red welts on her five-year-old’s back.
The mother, who wished to be identified as Ms Pengelly, recently wrote a post discussing the concerning incident on the Aldi Mum’s Facebook page.
“I used this product for my five-year-old this morning, squirting it directly on his skin, and within a few seconds his skin turned red,” she said.
Accompanying the post is a photograph of Aldi’s Mamia brand 2-in-1 wash and shampoo, which is advertised as being "suitable for babies and toddlers with sensitive skin".
“I immediately washed it off but the welts remained on his skin for an hour and I can still see the marks now,” Ms Pengelly said.
“I’ve contacted Aldi as this product claims to be suitable for babies and sensitive skin - just be careful if you use this on your kids and check the labels!”
Speaking to Yahoo News Australia, Ms Pengelly confirmed that she had hoped the product would be recalled following the incident, but Aldi confirmed with her that they were not planning to do this.
“Aldi responded fairly swiftly, apologised and offered me a $20 voucher,” she said.
“They said this is an isolated incident and will continue to monitor this product closely.”
Ms Pengelly said that upon purchasing the product, she did not notice any evidence of tampering that could have caused the incident, and the product did not smell abnormal during use.
“It hadn’t even been on his skin for a minute before it started turning red,” she said.
“He has no known allergies but obviously there was something in the product that didn’t agree with him.”
Aldi customer issues warning after ‘chemical smell’ from tissues
Aldi shopper's concerning warning about 'dangerous' Special Buy
Aldi Mum’s share similar experiences in comments
Ms Pengelly’s post, which has now received hundreds of comments from the Facebook group’s 184,000 members, has attracted comments from people who have had similar experiences with the product.
“I used this in my baby's bath the other night and my boy ended up with a rash from the waist down,” wrote one group member.
“We’ve had a similar reaction with my 18 month-old,” commented another.
Another group member also posted a comment sharing a similar experience with her child while using an Aldi bath gel.
“Something similar happened to my son with an Aldi bath product, it was scary,” they said, sharing a photo of a young child with small red marks on their belly and side.
More group members chimed in, writing that other Aldi products have also affected them in the past.
“This used to happen to my son with their brand of sunscreen,” wrote one person.
“I react the same to Aldi products,” commented another.
“My son reacts the same to Aldi gel wash,” said a third.
Aldi shoppers poses theories on child’s reaction
Concerned members of the Aldi Mum’s Facebook group have offered advice to Ms Pengelly, responding to her plea to group members to "check the labels" of their Aldi products.
“Always do patch tests for new products,” one mother responded.
“Sometimes ‘natural’ products cause reactions more than non-natural,” another wrote.
A third group member noticed that the Mamia 2-in-1 wash and shampoo and wondered whether Ms Pengelly’s child’s reaction was allergic rather than a response to the product itself.
“I see it’s made with almond oil, could your son be allergic to nuts?” she asked.
Although, Ms Pengelly confirmed with Yahoo News that the family consumes a lot of nuts at home and she is sure that her son does not have any nut allergies.
Other group members have thanked Ms Pengelly for her post.
“I was looking for this today as my youngest has eczema, so glad I didn’t get it”, said one group member.
“Let Aldi know, they should do a recall,” wrote another.
Aldi responds to ‘welt’ complaint
Yahoo News reached out to Aldi to ask if a recall was planned for the Mamia brand 2-in-1 wash and shampoo, and also enquired about the other instances of reactions to Aldi products.
An Aldi spokesperson provided a statement to Yahoo News, but did not directly address these questions.
“We have been in contact with the customer to investigate this claim, and have concluded it is an isolated incident. We encourage customers to continue to reach out to Aldi directly for any issues,” the spokesperson said.
Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.
You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter and download the Yahoo News app from the App Store or Google Play.
