Daughter choked on poor packaging

A question about : Daughter choked on poor packaging

As part of a quick meal after a recent operation, I shoved some cauliflower cheese in the microwave and did everything the packaging stated. Half way through her meal, my 3 year old started choking, after slapping her back 6/7 times, she finally coughed up a black piece of sharp plastic - the packaging from the cauliflower cheese!

I took her to A&E to check her throat and everything was fine.

Since, she's been extremely wary of eating food. I don't know if she's being cautious or it's a psychological response to choking.

I've kept the packaging and the shard of plastic, but what's my next step? I'm obviously not going to let this one slip.
Shoddy packaging has injured and affected my child!

Best answers:

• How much are you after?
• Cynical, aren't you?
  I was asking what my next step was in the way of complaining and who to complain to.
  You're not a parent, are you? Money that's easy come, easy goes. I'm more bothered about the next time somebody chokes on this packaging that falls apart in your food.
  Thanks for painting everyone with the same brush though, shows where your mind is at constantly. Money over safety, eh?
• Straight to the company and not trading standards? The whole point of me asking was I didn't know who was better.
  And it wasn't, no, but an adult could have quite easily choked on it too.
• Not having a go, OP, but would you not normally check it before you gave it to your child ? Or did you serve it in the plastic container ? Don't think they're meant to be eaten straight from the packaging are they ? A piece of black plastic in cauliflower cheese would have been easy to spot.
  I don't think you'll get very far with anyone really, maybe your first step should be where you bought it from.
• Surely the onus was on you to ensure the food was fit for your youngster to eat.
  A bit of black plastic wouldn't be hard to spot when serving up. Or did you microwave and serve it up in the container?
• No harm in writing to them all but unless it is clearly an issue with the packaging their responses may be in line with those that you have received above.
• Okay, I'm not the one at fault here. I didn't sift through her food, no, I didn't serve her from the container, and it clearly wasn't easy to spot of it wouldn't have been in her food.
  The shop that stocked the food has nothing to do with its packaging.
  Thanks for the replies, I think I'll just see my local CAB.
• Just a tip - if you do contact the packaging company, prepare yourself to be asked the same questions as on the forum.
  You come across as a bit too dramatic, saying "you're not going to let this one slip" doesn't do you any favours.
• Be prepared to be asked if I'm looking for money, if I sift through my daughters food and feed her out of a packet rather than a plate?
  Am I supposed to let this one slip? I give companies and people the benefit of the doubt every time something goes wrong and normally don't bother complaining. But this one affected my daughter. You'd be the same.
• Exactly, they'll ask how you gave her the food, whether you checked it before giving it to her, etc.
  I never mentioned money, you're way too defensive, which makes people suspicious that that's exactly what you're after. Thats what the packagaing company may assume too.
  No-one is saying you should let it go, but you need to calm down, your daughter is fine.
• my next step would not be to use these microwave products but just boil my own, far cheaper too.
  Just write to the company and complain, you will probably get a voucher.
• Probably a daft question but when you were emptying the food onto a plate did you not notice a bit of the container was missing?
  It may be hard for you to prove that the manufacturer was at fault, you'd have to prove that you cooked the meal exactly the way the instructions say and prove that the container was defective in some way. It is possible that the plastic snapped off while you were lifting the meal in and out of the microwave.
• I'd contact the retailer, not the manufacturer, but ask the retailer to keep you informed of what the manufacturer has done.
  I once had a vaguely similar incident, and I wrote to the retailer specifically noting that I wasn't seeking compensation, just to bring it to their attention. The retailer (Tesco) sent a gift-card of around 20 pounds, and the manufacturer duly also wrote with a small cheque and an explanation of what they think happened. In my case one of the corner from the food trays had fallen into the product.
  If you note you don't want compensation, you're probably in my view likely to get more information on what's happened.