Mum makes 'sickening' discovery in son's baby food

A mum has been left feeling “sick to her stomach” after finding a dead bug in a jar of baby food she was feeding her six-month-old boy, she claims.

Elesha McHugh’s son was about a quarter through the jar of Wattie’s For Baby Pasta, Vegetables and Beef when the woman noticed something that didn’t look right mixed in with the food.

“I was starting to feed him when I noticed something black in the jar. I was like ‘surely it’s not a bug’,” she told the New Zealand Herald.

“Then I thought maybe it was a piece of the roast vegetable.”

“It freaked me out,” the Auckland woman said of realising what it was.

• Fire sale: Open house disaster after owner’s attempt to ‘create ambience’

• Principal takes action after reports of Coles Little Shop thefts

• ‘Stay away from my daughter’: Dad in ute filmed chasing young man down road

• Airbnb owner furious after Aussies trash house in wake of Bledisloe Cup loss

“I was feeling so sick to my stomach. You just don’t expect that type of stuff in baby food.

“I feel pretty disgusted, I felt sick thinking that could have been fed to my son.”

Aside form the gross factor, she was also worried her little boy could have choked on the bug.

The mum and her partner usually made their own baby food, but used Wattie’s as a back-up, however the experience has put her off.

Wattie’s asked Ms McHugh to send them the dead bug for testing.

“We are committed to following up this matter,” the company said in a statement last week.

“The consumer can be assured that we investigate thoroughly any and all product complaints fully, but none more so than those involving products for infants and babies.

“Our baby food products made and packaged in a world class dedicated facility where the focus is on producing foods to highest quality standards, which includes the elimination of any possible contaminants.”

Wattie’s said contaminants in its food were “extremely rare” and thanked the customer for reporting it.