Mom Is Warning Parents After Finding Metal in Her Daughter's Vitamins
Parents want to believe that health products, especially the kind geared toward children and taken on a daily basis, are safe. Unfortunately, as a viral post proves, that's not always the case. A mom from Overland Park, Kansas named Samantha Andersen took to Facebook on December 11 after finding "sharp metal flakes" at the bottom of a Zarbee's Naturals Complete Toddler Multivitamin bottle.
"The flakes were even embedded in the surface area of the vitamins," she wrote. "There’s 55 servings in a bottle, and [my daughter Milani]'s had about 50 so who knows how many metal flakes she ingested??" The concerned reported that her pediatrician had recommended taking Milani to the E.R. to be X-rayed.
In an update to the post, Andersen reported that metal was found in her daughter's intestines, and, "Now we have to watch for bloody stools, pain or fever. The doc also told us to contact the FDA so we did that immediately. I contacted Zarbee's as well. The rep apologized and offered to mail some coupons to my house...?????? Please check your children’s containers and share my post!"
Upon seeing the post, which has been shared more than 109K times, another mother named Karly Lynn Dunn revealed that she had found metal pieces and mysterious "black specks" in her supply of the same vitamins. She similarly encouraged parents to check their bottles of these chewable vitamins.
Andersen told local news outlet FOX4KC that her family has used Zarbee's Naturals multivitamins for years. But upon noting that some of the gummies had clumped together, she she dumped them on a plate to separate them, and that's when she noticed the metal shavings. "My husband said, 'Take a magnet and see if it sticks,' and sure enough the magnet picked them right up," Andersen said.
She reflected on the situation to FOX4KC: "Food is mass produced these days, and metal machines will break apart. And I guess pieces will fall into the production line, but there's supposed to be tools or people in place to catch those things."
While Zarbee's has yet to comment, the Food & Drug Administration shared a statement with the Kansas station: "The FDA is aware and currently investigating the complaint."
