A woman has claimed that she found something that resembled 'rotting squid' in the bottom of her Vita Coco Pure Coconut Water.
Barbara Evelyn Marie, from New York, was enjoying her drink when she swallowed a 'clump'. Upon inspecting the insides of the carton, she realised that there was a lot of 'clumps' that look, quite frankly, like something out of Men in Black.
Credit: Barbara Evelyn Marie/Guzelian
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Speaking to the Sun, medical worker Barbara said: "I feel absolutely sick to my stomach even talking about it. I know there is some type of animal in there.
"I've got told it looks like a mouse, I got told it looks like a squid, I got told it looks like a bunch of things - that's why I would like for somebody to get it tested for me that has more authority than me.
"All I want is somebody to see it for themselves and understand that this is not right. I understand that products get mouldy and products get mispackaged and sometimes spoil but this is just too much for me."
Credit: Facebook
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She claims that the drink was in date, and she had kept it refrigerated until the day she drank it.
Credit: Barbara Evelyn Marie/Guzelian
This is stomach-turning stuff...
Credit: Barbara Evelyn Marie/Guzelian
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She posted the images on Facebook, and as a result they were shared 43,000 times.
Explaining, she continued: "I took it out of my refrigerator. I shook it, I opened it, I put a straw in it and then I drank it.
"It was only when I unknowingly swallowed one of those clumps I realised it tasted awful. I started vomiting. The diarrhoea honestly just stopped on Friday."
Nice.
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Credit: Barbara Evelyn Marie/Guzelian
As soon as she swallowed one of the 'clumps' she got rid of the water and cut open the packaging.
"I immediately dumped out all the water. I shook it because I heard stuff bouncing around," she explained. "I opened it with a knife and that's when I discovered the octopus-looking thing."
She added: "There were four of them all together, maybe five and I swallowed one of them."
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Credit: Barbara Evelyn Marie/Guzelian
Barbara went to the doctors after being sick and experiencing diarrhea for a few days. She required blood tests as a result. Not what you want from a drink.
She's now sent her doctor's notes and the clumps off to the company. However, she's kept a few clumps to get independently tested.
A spokesperson for Vita Coco said: "We have been in touch with the consumer, Barbara Marie, multiple times since April 26, 2017. We take all consumer inquiries and product quality issues very seriously, and as a global brand have protocols to properly investigate quality inquiries.
"We asked Ms Marie for the product information for this unit on April 26, 2017, so that we could report the issue to quality control and investigate it further, but only received that information on Friday, May 5, 2017.
"As it stands now, we are reviewing Ms Marie's claim thoroughly so we can assist her in the best manner possible.
"Vita Coco employs the highest standards of food safety at all its production facilities and our beverages are quality- and food safety-tested internally, and also by an external quality control specialist, before being distributed.
"However, because Vita Coco beverages do not contain preservatives, on rare occasion, random spoilage may occur.
"This is what we are investigating now with Ms Marie."
Only time will tell...
Featured Image Credit: Facebook/Barbara Evelyn Marie/GuzelianTopics: woman