Market Harborough boy nearly choked on metal spring in crisps

Preston Green was eating Cheese and Onion Wheat Crunchies at the family home on Wednesday last week at around 4pm when he started to choke.

“He runs up to me in the living room and he’s like gagging and choking” said mum Chelsea Green (24).

“I smacked him on the back and this handful of crisps came out with this metal spring in it.

“I thought ‘where the hell’s that come from?’ I’m convinced it was in the crisp packet. The metal was literally submerged in the crisps he’d chewed.”

Preston’s dad Adam Green (26), who works for cable company Cable House in town, said the 3cm spring was found in a packet of Wheat Crunchies bought from Home Bargains in Kettering.

The spring looks similar to one that might be found in a ball point pen.

Adam said: “It could have been much worse if Chelsea had not been so quick.

“Preston could have choked, or he could easily have swallowed the metal piece and we might not even have known.”

The family have contacted Leicestershire County Council’s Trading Standards service about the incident.

They have also been in touch with manufacturer KP Snacks, who make Wheat Crunchies.

In a statement, manufacturer KP said: “We are aware of a complaint by Mr Green concerning a packet of Wheat Crunchies.

“As a responsible food manufacturer, KP Snacks takes the quality of its products extremely seriously and has stringent quality assurance procedures in place.

“As with any complaint, we have clearly established procedures that we follow to help us investigate what has happened.

“Mr Green has agreed to send us the item and the packaging so that we can carry out a full investigation.

“We will continue to liaise with Mr Green to resolve his complaint.”

Adam Green confirmed to the Mail that KP had been in touch.

He said he was waiting to receive a padded envelope from the company, so he could send them the metal spring and the crisps packet.