MONMOUTH, Ill. — An Illinois mom has a warning for parents after she apparently found mold in her child’s juice bottle.
Nicole Kindhart told WQAD she often purchases good2grow, non-preservative juice for her two-year-old daughter.
However, a recent discovery has her warning parents about the drink.
“I opened the juice and looked in there and I`m like what is this, stuck my finger in there and pulled it out and there was gooey stuff all over,” said Kindhart.
Kindhart shared the experience on her Facebook page. The expiration date on the bottle was March 2016, but she claims she found mold inside.
“It’s kind of the worst feeling you could feel as a parent, that I failed my daughter by ever giving her this juice,” said Kindhart.
Kindhart says her daughter has been sick in the past and she blames the drink.
“There was a time when she had a high fever 104-105 for a week straight, excruciating stomach pains, diarrhea, vomiting,” said Kindhart.
Now more customers are speaking out. On good2grow’s Facebook page, there are hundreds of comments from angry parents claiming they also found mold in their kids’ drinks.
WQAD reached out to the company Atlanta-based company who said they are investigating the case, adding that it’s possible for mold to grow inside their package if the seal is damaged prior to consumption.
Good2grow said if they added preservatives to their drinks, it would eliminate the already low mold occurrences.
However, it’s a tradeoff they’re not willing to make since they believe it’s not in the best interest for children.
Good2grow posted a statement on Facebook:
“We’ve noticed quite a bit of conversation here about mold over the last few days. We’d like to start by saying that we absolutely stand behind the quality and safety of our products – the number of substantiated complaints we receive each month is extremely low. That said, we are aware that there are legitimate cases of mold being found in good2grow products from time to time. Since we choose not to use preservatives in our drinks, it is possible for mold to grow in our package if the seal is damaged prior to consumption. The only way to virtually eliminate the risk of mold would be by adding preservatives to the millions of bottles kids consume every year – and we strongly believe that would be the wrong thing to do for our children. For peace of mind, we encourage Moms to always double-check before serving any preservative-free natural products. We are eager to help any consumers who believe they’ve discovered a problem with one of our products — we’ll just ask for a few simple pieces of information to help us investigate any of those.”