The Chatham mother of three who discovered a needle in some of her children's Halloween candy says she was shocked to make the discovery Wednesday.
The woman, who does not want to be identified publicly, says she found the needle while she was sorting through her childrens' candy the day after Halloween when her 5-year-old daughter was at school.
A needle was found by a Chatham-Kent parent lodged in candy bar, the day after Halloween, November 1, 2017. (Submitted photo)
"We didn't let our kids have any candy the night of Halloween because it was a long night already and it was past their bed time," says the woman. "I went through their candy and sorted through it, and I grabbed one chocolate -- and I was going to eat it actually."
The woman says when she picked up the small chocolate bar, she found a little "poke" in it and thought it was some kind of manufacturing issue, but then quickly realized it was a needle.
"I called my mother-in-law right away and she recommended that I call the police to report it," says the woman adding an officer came by shortly after she called and confiscated the candy. "I was in shock... you hear about it, but you don't think about that it actually does happen... it was crazy."
After finding the needle, the woman says she ended up throwing away all of the candy her kids collected on Halloween and shared some of the loot that their extended family and friends had collected instead.
The woman says her family spent most of their time trick-or-treating in the neighbourhoods between the main roads of Tweedsmuir Ave., Lacroix St., Queen St. and Park Ave. She says there were "tons" of kids in the area along with them, adding that they visited "pretty much every house" in that area.
Her advice to parents whose kids go trick-or-treating is the same message police give out every year.
"Make sure you check your kids' candy -- because it's going to happen sometime," says the woman adding she won't let one bad experience ruin future trick-or-treating plans. "We're just going to thoroughly check through it again, we're not going to have our kids avoid Halloween just because of it."
