Mum Stevie Bowyer says little Mia-Rose suffered ‘chemical-like’ burns in her throat when the shock of the ‘world’s sourest sweet’ made her choke on it rather than spit it out.
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The 10-year-old had sleepover at her aunty’s house with her sister and cousins, intending to watch films and chomp on snacks.
She got her mum and aunty’s permission to try the super-sour sweet Mr Simms after seeing the challenge on TikTok.
Mia-Rose, from Reading, said: “I saw videos on TikTok of other children trying the Black Death sweet. I saw them pull funny faces and wanted to try it.”
She as soon as she popped the sweet in her mouth, she was shocked by the sourness and and tried to spit it out.
Instead, as the black-coloured toffee took her breath away, she inhaled it and it got stuck down her throat.
Mia-Rose’s terrified aunt started to perform the Heimlich manoeuvre and dialled 999, as the girl’s lips started to turn blue.
Mia-Rose feared she was ‘going to die’, but after a terrifying two minutes she managed to get the candy out and throw it to the ground.
She was rushed to hospital where doctors put her on oxygen, steroids and antibiotics to help her breathe and prevent further swelling.
Mr Simms have said they are removing the sweets from sale while an ‘investigation’ takes place.
A shocking video shows Mia-Rose in hospital emitting a growling, gurgling sound from her throat as she breathes out of her ‘sore and burnt’ throat.
Mia-Rose, who’s currently scared to eat, faces an anxious wait to discover whether any permanent damage has been done to her vocal cords, after being left with a raspy voice.
The ‘world’s sourest sweet’ is lemon flavoured and comes with a warning that it “may cause temporary mouth and/or stomach irritation” and isn’t suitable for children under eight.
My throat is sore and burnt, I would never have a sweet like that again
Mia-Rose Bowyer
Mia-Rose described the ordeal, recalling her shock as the sour sweet hit her tongue: “At first when it went into my mouth it wasn’t sour but then it went really sour.
“I went to spit it out, [but] it rolled back [down my throat]. It was really scary.
“It was a relief when it came out. When the sweet came out I threw it on the floor and cuddled my aunty. I thought I was going to die.
“My throat is sore and burnt, I would never have a sweet like that again.”
What to do if someone is choking
Mild choking
If the airway is only partly blocked, the person will usually be able to speak, cry, cough or breathe, and may be able to clear the blockage themselves.
In adults:
- Encourage them to keep coughing
- Ask them to try to spit out the object
- Don’t put your fingers in their mouth
- If coughing doesn’t work, start back blows
In children:
- If you can see the object, try to remove it (but don’t poke blindly)
- Encouraging coughing
- Shout for help if coughing isn’t effective or the child is silent
- Use back blows if the child is still conscious but not coughing
Severe choking
In adults:
Where choking is severe, the person won’t be able to speak, cry, cough or breathe.
Without help, they’ll eventually become unconscious, so you should carry out back blows.
In children:
Back blows can be carried out on children under one year.
If this doesn’t work, chest thrusts can be started on kids up to 12 months old, and abdominal thrusts on those over one year.
Call 999 if the blockage doesn’t come out after trying back blows and either chest or abdominal thrusts.
Keep trying this cycle until help arrives.
Even if the object has come out, get medical help. Part of the object might have been left behind, or the patient might have been hurt by the procedure.
Source: NHS
Mum-of-three Stevie said Mia-Rose had seen clips of people trying the sweet on other people’s TikTok and YouTube accounts and wanted to try it out herself.
“The girls like sour sweets and had seen videos on TikTok and YouTube about one called Black Death – ‘the world’s most super-sour sweet’.
“They’re not recommended for children under the age of eight and it does state on the packet it can cause stomach irritation and irritation for your mouth.
“I didn’t look into that until afterwards because you don’t expect a sweet to do any of that.
“I thought ‘well if it’s not sold to under eights and it’s in a sweet shop it can’t be that bad’.
“You don’t think twice about these things when the kids say ‘I want to try that’.”
She recalled her fear when she received a call from her sister’s boyfriend while Mia-Rose was choking on the sweet.
“At this time Mia still had the sweet lodged in her throat, I could hear them trying to get it out. I felt sick and I was shaking.”
The mum said was “lost for words” and feared she’d be going home to “a lifeless child”.
When a consultant came to see me he said ‘imagine a third-degree burn on her arm but down her throat’
Stevie Bowyer
“It ended up being [stuck] nearly two minutes, by this time her lips had already gone blue.
“While my sister was doing all she could, Mia ended up getting her hand and dislodging the sweet,” Stevie explained.
Mia-Rose was taken to Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading, Berkshire, where she was given oxygen, hooked to an IV drip and put on steroids to combat swelling and help her breathing.
Mia-Rose was given the all-clear to come home after three days in hospital, but needs a follow-up appointment to see if there’s any permanent damage.
Stevie said: “When a consultant came to see me he said ‘imagine a third-degree burn on her arm but down her throat’.
“Her voice sounds very husky, I’m praying her voice does come back.
“It can happen with anything but it happened to be this sweet. She’s a little bit scared to eat at the minute.”
Stevie she’s now warning other parents about the potential dangers of sour sweets and hopes Mr Sims will permanently pull the product from its shelves and she thinks what happened to her daughter “could happen to anybody”.
She also disagrees with the challenge being shared across TikTok and YouTube.
A spokesman for Mr Simms Olde Sweet Shoppe, a business with more than 50 directly owned and franchised shops in the UK and Hong Kong said: “We are extremely sorry to hear of what happened to Mia and wish her a full and speedy recovery.
“We take such matters seriously and an investigation into this case will be undertaken as a matter of urgency.
“Many of our customers are children and we have rigorous procedures to ensure they can enjoy our sweets in safety and the ingredients used in our products comply with food health and safety standards in line with UK legislation.
“The Black Death is promoted as a super sour sweet made exclusively for Mr Simms by a manufacturer with whom we have a long relationship and which is respected within the industry. It is clearly labelled as not being suitable to anyone aged 8 and under.
“This sweet has been on sale for 11 years and this is the only such case reported to us since the product was launched.
“However, as a responsible business we have taken the decision to take the sweet off sale and informed our franchisees to do the same until the outcome of the investigation is known.”
Tiktok said that this type of content is not specific to their platform and there are multiple recent reaction videos with high views across other platforms, not just TikTok.
They said TikTok is a 13+ platform, and anyone below that age is not allowed on the platform.
A YouTube spokesperson said: “You must be at least 13 years old to use YouTube and we have strict rules prohibiting content which features minors engaging in dangerous activities.
“Our Community Guidelines prohibit any videos encouraging extremely dangerous challenges and we vigorously remove this type of content.”
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