Woman becomes sick after discovering 'squid-like creature' inside carton of coconut water

A woman in New York has said she became seriously after drinking from a carton of coconut water which contained what appeared to be a squid-like object inside.

Barbara Evelyn Marie, from Goshen, said she felt "sick to my stomach" after finding the mysterious substance in her carton of Vita Coco Pure Coconut Water.

After taking a swig of the drink, which was not due to expire until 21 July, she realised there was "some sort of animal" inside and possibly even swallowed a part of it, resulting in her experiencing illness and diarrhoea for several days.

Marie then posted images of what she found inside the cartoon onto Facebook, with the pics being shared more than 50,000 times.

She said: "I still can't believe this I'm so disgusted it's the only water I ever drink I will never in my life drink it again... It looks like a freaking octopus just looking at it makes me sick.

"I took it out of my refrigerator. I shook it, I opened it, I put a straw in it and then I drank it. I immediately dumped out all the water. I shook it because I heard stuff bouncing around.

"I opened it with a knife and that's when I discovered the octopus-looking thing. There were four of them all together, maybe five and I swallowed one of them."

Vita Coco said they will be investigating the incident. A spokesperson added: "We have been in touch with the consumer, Barbara Marie, multiple times since 26 April, 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 26 April, 2017, so that we could report the issue to quality control and investigate it further, but only received that information on Friday, 5 May, 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."