A Cheshire woman choked on a rock found in a frozen ready meal – before being rescued by her quick-thinking fiancé, who performed the Heimlich maneuver.
Jasmine Davies of Tattenhall picked up a frozen risotto meal on her way home from work on January 6th at her local Spar store on High Street in Tattenhall.
The 26-year-old said she cooked the food prepared by frozen food maker COOK at home, but after taking a bite, discovered that something was wrong.
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Jasmine soon began to choke, and her fiancé, Alex Sandilands, quickly performed the Heimlich maneuver on her to help resolve anything that was stuck.
It turned out that Jasmine had choked on a stone that had somehow ended up in her ready-made meal. The incident also resulted in one of her dental fillings coming out.
A stone found in the COOK meal that Jasmine Davies bought at Spar in Tattenhall
(Image: Jasmine Davies)
Describing the course of events, Jasmine told CheshireLive, “I picked up the risotto at the local store on my way home from work, I’ve never actually done it.
“I just cooked it and ate it right away. It was such a thing for a split second, I bit something and then chased it anyway.
“I now know that my filling has risen, but I started to gag and felt like that was it. I couldn’t breathe.
“I was so lucky that my fiancé was here with me. If my fiancé wasn’t here, I couldn’t help panic.
Jasmine and her fiance Alex
(Image: Jasmine Davies)
“I don’t think he knew how to do it right [Heimlich manoeuvre]but he knows the moves and obviously it worked. “
Jasmine, who suffers from fibromyalgia, a chronic pain disorder, said the situation had caused the disease to flare up, with anxiety making it worse.
She contacted Spar the next day to tell them about the incident and to make you aware of the situation so that it would not happen to anyone else.
COOK replied to Jasmine, apologizing for the incident and asking for “a second chance”.
In a message from COOK to Jasmine, a spokeswoman for the company’s customer care team said, “We sincerely regret it again and hope you are better now.
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“We very much hope that you will give us a second chance and would like to make amends. So please let us know where you bought the food and we will either send you a voucher if you bought it from a retailer (please let us know your address) or we will send you an e-mail if you have made a purchase in one of our COOK shops or ordered online (please send us your e-mail).
“My sincere apologies again, COOK Customer Service.”
When offered a free meal voucher, Jasmine replied, “I couldn’t even reply because I just thought, ‘Are you serious?’
“You know, it could have turned out so differently and you offer a meal voucher. I won’t eat any of these anymore.
“Risotto is quite a mushy food, so someone could have given it to a young child who didn’t know what was happening to them.”
Jasmine has since sent a letter to COOK along with the stone she choked on.
She added, “Just so everyone can see, yes, I’m fine, but I don’t think anyone realizes how dangerous it was.”
Spar has been contacted for comment.
