Happy Easter, Here’s A Syringe: Australian Man Found Syringe In Easter Bunny

Some Easter periods run smoothly for retailers and consumers alike; some, a little less so. For one Australian man who found a syringe in an Easter bunny on Good Friday, and the Woolworths grocery store the chocolate bunny was purchased from, the latter was definitely the case.

Australian man Peter Oakley was given a Cadbury Dream Easter bunny by his mother ahead of the Easter long weekend. When he opened the bunny on Good Friday, he peeled back the foil to find a capped syringe inside the ordinarily “happy” Easter chocolate.

Oakley took to Facebook to show images of his not-so-happy Easter bunny surprise and warn friends and family of the dangers posed by mass distribution of Easter chocolates given that they are wrapped and easily penetrable.

https://www.facebook.com/laughsatgoats/posts/10154075455074510

Oakley stated in his Facebook post that he found the syringe in an Easter bunny purchased by his mother from the Canterbury Garden Woolworths supermarket in Kilsyth, Melbourne. He went on to say that it was clear that the Easter bunny had been tampered with at the store while on the shelf.

“Looks like someone peeled back the foil and jammed it inside and then put the foil back in place,” wrote Oakley in a later post. “The loose bit of chocolate was still inside.”

Oakley said on Facebook that he has since reported the Easter bunny blunder to the Australian supermarket giant.

According to 7 News, Woolworths has already responded to Oakley’s complaint that he found a syringe in an Easter bunny purchased at one of their branches, and a customer spokesperson responded immediately after the Friday evening complaint.

“Staff inspected all existing stock and a further investigation is currently underway. Woolworths takes food safety very seriously and we are confident that this is an isolated incident,” the spokesperson told 7 News.

Despite its global success as a business, and its dominance of Australia’s supermarket industry, Woolworths Australia’s reputation is already suffering during this Easter holiday period for more reasons than a dubious bunny.

A pre-Easter outbreak of gastro prompted Woolworths to recall four different lines of mixed lettuce when an unusually strong link between their products and Salmonella contraction was discovered. That time, it was people’s Valentines Day rather than their Easter that was upset by the supermarket’s blunder. At least, in the latter case, it appears to be an ill-wishing store customer at fault for injecting an Easter bunny with a capped syringe. In February, inspectors were sent to carry out a rigorous audit of Woolworth’s premises and their packaging and hygiene practices, according to The Guardian.

Oakley encouraged his friends and family to share the post “as far and wide as they can,” saying that the “terrifying” fact that he found a syringe in an Easter bunny should act as a warning to families at Easter to protect children from such hidden dangers.

“I find this terrifying, it might be the only one or it could be inside many. Lucky it was just us adults around the table, it could have been a child,” said Oakley.

The public hopes — and Woolworths hopes — that Oakley will be the only one to say he found a syringe in an Easter bunny this year or the next.

[Image via Peter Oakley/Facebook]