KEIZER, Ore. — A Keizer family says they made a disturbing find inside a package of baby yogurt they were about to feed their 2-year-old daughter, maggots.
“My wife pulled out of the package and just looked at it and screamed,” Sonny Lorentz said. “It was literally disgusting, made me sick to my stomach, and the smell was so putrid.”
Lorentz says his wife bought a package of strawberry banana flavored Gerber Graduates Yogurt Blends from the North Salem Fred Meyer on Broadway. It’s a four-pack of individual plastic yogurt cups with foil lids in a paper package.
Lorentz says there was a hole in one of the lids, and maggots were crawling out of it.
The family immediately notified Fred Meyer, and a company spokesperson said they were reimbursed $50 and that the rest of the shipment was pulled off store shelves as a precaution even though there was no evidence of contamination. The spokesperson also said Fred Meyer would be following up with Gerber to ensure it wouldn’t happen again.
The Lorentz family said a representative from Gerber came to their home to pick up the product for testing.
A spokesperson for Gerber gave Fox 12 this statement:
“For over 85 years, Gerber has been trusted by parents and caregivers to help raise generations of happy, healthy babies. Our top priorities are the safety of our products and the children who consume them.
GERBER was notified of the presence of a foreign object allegedly found in Gerber Yogurt Blends Strawberry Banana. As part of our usual procedure, we are thoroughly investigating the matter.
Parents can rest assured that we take great care with every product we make. Gerber maintains strict food safety and quality procedures in all of our factories, including numerous quality checks at the different stages of our manufacturing, packaging and distribution processes. It is highly unusual that something of this nature would be found in a finished product.
We encourage parents who have questions regarding our products to contact Gerber’s Parent Resource Center day or night at 1-800-4-Gerber.”
A check inside the Fred Meyer Monday showed that a new shipment of the product is back on store shelves. It’s not clear from where this particular shipment came or where along the way it was contaminated. Both Fred Meyer and Gerber said food safety and the safety of customers is the top priority.
Source: KPTV/CNN
