# Found two white tablets in a tube of smarties!



## cookie1 (19 Feb 2008)

Got a serious shock last night when we were giving our 28 month old daughter a few smarties after her dinner, my wife was putting the sweets into a bowl for her when she noticed a white tablet amongst them, we emptied out the rest of the tube and found one more of the tablets......don't know what they are but they have text and a number on them.
We were in England recently and bought the sweets in a WH Smith shop in the departure lounge at the airport and I know for a fact that the tube was sealed when we bought it.
So what do we do or who do we contact?
If we get in touch with Nestle will we just get a few packs of sweets in the post and that'll be the end of it?
People should be warned about this, i dread to think what would have happened if we just handed her the tube.
Has anybody else experienced anything like this?


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## swordshead (19 Feb 2008)

cookie1 said:


> she noticed a white tablet amongst them,


Was it definitely a tablet and not just a smartie with no colouring on it? If definitely a tablet, id try and get it analysed asap, god knows what it could be...i think nestlé would whip stocks off the shelf quick smart if they knew! If its something dangerous, the next child mightnt be so lucky!


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## Caveat (19 Feb 2008)

> Was it definitely a tablet and not just a smartie with no colouring on it?


 
That's what I thought initially but the OP mentioned text/number on it.

It might be something innocent but I'd contact Nestlé straight away.


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## truthseeker (19 Feb 2008)

get them analysed before panicking - it may be sugar or something from the smartie making process.

Im sure your local pharmicist will be able to advise you about getting them analysed.


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## Lauren (19 Feb 2008)

Suggest you contact Nestle asap to alert them as to what you found. Sounds odd that they have text on them. Have them analysed ASAP. Agree with advice not to panic but don't waste any more time waiting to see what responses you get here!


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## truthseeker (19 Feb 2008)

Lauren said:


> Suggest you contact Nestle asap to alert them as to what you found. Sounds odd that they have text on them. Have them analysed ASAP. Agree with advice not to panic but don't waste any more time waiting to see what responses you get here!


 
Excellent advice Lauren.

OP - really you need to alert Nestle and also get an analysis. I would strongly advise you dont hand them over to Nestle without independant analysis.


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## Grus (19 Feb 2008)

Contact Nestle immediately explaining the situation and quote the text on the tablets. If the tablets are just unprocessed ingredients that were missed by quality control then Nestle should have no problem identifying them. Hang on to the tablets though.


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## mathepac (19 Feb 2008)

Can you post text and numbers off the tablets here and I can look up an index for you?


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## cookie1 (19 Feb 2008)

They are hard white tablets about 15mm long and 5mm thick with the edges rounded and an indented line running accross the middle (they just look like any normal tablet that you'd get from your doctor), they have the text "PARA" on one side of the line and the number "500" on the other.

I've e-mailed nestle with all the details and I'm dropping one of them into the local pharmacy at lunchtime to get it analyzed.


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## Caveat (19 Feb 2008)

Paracetemol 500mg maybe?

Let us know what happens with phamacy/Nestlé.


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## cookie1 (19 Feb 2008)

Was thinking the same.......but what the heck are they doing in a tube of smarties??

I'll let you know when I have any update.


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## Niallman (19 Feb 2008)

Don't drop them anywhere to get analysed, thats only going to confirm to you what you already know, ie they're not smarties. They have an ID on them which tells you at least what they're supposed to be. A pharmacy will not have the means to chemically ID the tablets and will just contact the Irish Medicines Board which you can do yourself, see the Quality Defect Reporting part of their website. The IMB will advise you and probably ask you to send the tablets to them. They'll also contact the MHRA in the UK.


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## Thrifty (19 Feb 2008)

Are you sure they were not in the bowl before you poured in the smarties. somebody may have taken them out of the packet for a headache and put them down in the bowl when possibly moving cups etc to get a glass from the cupboard, then forgotten about them. Sounds daft but i could easily see it happening in my mum's house.


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## mathepac (19 Feb 2008)

Caveat said:


> Paracetemol 500mg maybe?...


Looks like that's what they puport to be.


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## Caveat (19 Feb 2008)

mathepac said:


> Looks like that's what they puport to be.


 
Yes, good point.


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## brodiebabe (19 Feb 2008)

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/118/118577_riddle_of_drug_in_smarties.html


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## Lauren (19 Feb 2008)

cookie1 said:


> They are hard white tablets about 15mm long and 5mm thick with the edges rounded and an indented line running accross the middle (they just look like any normal tablet that you'd get from your doctor), they have the text "PARA" on one side of the line and the number "500" on the other.
> 
> I've e-mailed nestle with all the details and I'm dropping one of them into the local pharmacy at lunchtime to get it analyzed.



Are you mad? Why didn't you phone Nestle? The email could sit in a general inbox for days and in the meantime, more kids are eating drugs they are finding in Smarties??? RING NESTLE!


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## ClubMan (20 Feb 2008)

Exactly. Only _Smarties _have the answer.


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## aircobra19 (20 Feb 2008)

Lauren said:


> Are you mad? Why didn't you phone Nestle? The email could sit in a general inbox for days and in the meantime, more kids are eating drugs they are finding in Smarties??? RING NESTLE!



Ditto x10! Very important!


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## wishbone (20 Feb 2008)

Tx so much for post - will never give my kids anything without checking first!  TG your little kid didn't get it, assuming it is paracetamol 240mg at a time is max for a child her age.  Good thing I'm a mean stingey mummy who only ever gives her kids 5 at a time!  It's a shocker, smarties are so aimed at the kids' market....
Let us know how you get on.


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## ubiquitous (20 Feb 2008)

Did you not read the Manchester Evening News link above? On the basis of that article, its NOT paracetemol.


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## lightup (20 Feb 2008)

ubiquitous said:


> Did you not read the Manchester Evening News link above? On the basis of that article, its NOT paracetemol.


 
The article is nearly 4 years old and the numbers/letters on the tablet are completely different so I don't know if any conclusions can be drawn based on it.


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## wishbone (20 Feb 2008)

Have a look here 

http://www.biotopics.co.uk/newgcse/drugpacksizeregs.html

Looks and sounds like paracetamol to me!


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## Welfarite (20 Feb 2008)

I'd be interested to know the result of the investigation into the incident in 2004.


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## ubiquitous (20 Feb 2008)

lightup said:


> The article is nearly 4 years old and the numbers/letters on the tablet are completely different so I don't know if any conclusions can be drawn based on it.



Fair enough


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## Welfarite (20 Feb 2008)

cookie1 said:


> They are hard white tablets about 15mm long and 5mm thick with the edges rounded and an indented line running accross the middle ... they have the text "PARA" on one side of the line and the number "500" on the other.


 

Like this?


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## RainyDay (20 Feb 2008)

It might be worth a phonecall to the FSAI.


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## ClubMan (20 Feb 2008)

RainyDay said:


> It might be worth a phonecall to the FSAI.


Even though the purchase was made in the _UK_?


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## Petal (21 Feb 2008)

Well FSAI or the  in the UK. FSAI would probably get in touch with the latter or with Nestle directly.


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## Complainer (21 Feb 2008)

ClubMan said:


> Even though the purchase was made in the _UK_?



Yep - based on their mission statement (with my *bolding *for emphasis);

Our mission is to protect consumers' health and consumers' interests             by ensuring that food *consumed*, distributed, marketed or produced             in the state meets the highest standards of food safety and hygiene.
​


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## cookie1 (22 Feb 2008)

Hi all, 

Just an update on what's going on and thanks for all your posts in relation to what to do.

Having contacted Nestle (over the phone and e-mail) and then the Irish food safety authority their advice was to send a half of one of the tablets to a pharmacy for analysis. The initial reaction is that they are paracetamol but this can't be confirmed yet.

The rest of the smarties, the tube and the other tablet and a half are gone to nestle. I know some of you advised against this but they have to launch their own internal investigation straight away to prevent anything similar happening!

In answer to some of your questions, we are 110% sure that the tablets were in the tube before we broke the seal, there is no other possible senario to explain how they got there. The tablets shown in the pictures posted are round but the ones we found are a rectangular shape, about 15mm long and 5mm thick with rounded edges.

I'll post an update as soon as I have any news.


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## jwestave (2 Mar 2009)

what happened - did you ever find out...


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