6-year-old chokes on face mask material concealed inside McDonald's chicken nugget

Laura Arber and her children picked up some fast food from a McDonald's in Aldershot, Hampshire on Tuesday, August 4. While the family ate, six-year-old Maddie suddenly started choking after taking a bite of a chicken nugget. The children's favourite McDonald's menu item nearly choked the child to death. Upon inspection, the mother realised that Maddie had choked on a piece of face mask that was inside the nugget. More pieces of the material were found in the nuggets which were served to the family.

Accompanied by three of her four children, the 32-year-old woman picked up their meal from the North Lane branch of the fast food chain at around 6 pm yesterday. To minimise the risk of contracting COVID-19, the family returned to their home to eat. The children were sitting on the sofa and eating when Maddie suddenly started to choke.

The quick-thinking mother put her fingers down the child's throat to pry out whatever was blocking her airway. The thing choking the child was a foreign object.

Speaking to Hampshire Live, Laura said that she pulled out some blue material coated in the child's vomit. She was baffled by what she found. It did not look like a piece of the chicken nugget that Maddie had been eating. Laura inspected the rest of the 20-piece chicken nugget meal. She discovered more of the blue material in another nugget. The material was the same as that used to make disposable face masks.

Laura speculates that parts of a face mask had been cooked into the nuggets, which were then served to customers.

She called the McDonald's branch before going to the store to speak to the manager. The response she received was less than satisfactory. Laura claims that store continued serving the tainted batch of nuggets. She also said that she did not receive an apology for her child's nearly fatal experience.

Laura pointed out that due to her son being born in intensive care, McDonald's had helped out with their Support for Families program. However, the incident and the handling by the staff left the mother disappointed.

A spokesperson stated that the family had received a full refund as well as an apology from the company. Laura was asked to return the contaminated product so that they could investigate the incident.