Woman finds stranger's tooth in candy bar

Posted: Jan 15, 2010 9:13 PM
Updated: Jan 15, 2010 9:42 PM



BROWNSBORO, TX (KLTV) - It was New Year's Day when Sue Calhoun and her husband took a trip to Dallas to pick up a new tractor.

"So I had grabbed us a candy bar to eat on the way," said Calhoun.

The candy bar and Coke duo is one she treats herself to on road trips. But, about half-way through her trip, something unexpected happened.

"I took one bite and it was fine, so I took another bite and bit down on something and thought, 'Well, it may be a peanut,'" explained Calhoun.

She quickly learned it was not a peanut.

"I thought, 'Well, Milky bars don't have peanut or any kind of nuts in it," she said. "I looked at it and I thought, 'Oh, gosh! Gross! How terrible! [It's a] tooth!'"

It was a tooth with silver filling baked into her Milky Way candy bar.

"Every time I think about it, I kind of get sick to my stomach because I don't know what kind of mouth it come out of," said Calhoun.

Fortunately, she says none of her own teeth were harmed - no chips or cracks. But, she was worried and unsure of where the tooth came from, so she called Mars Candy, the makers of Milky Way.

"She (a Mars representative) said, 'I'm going to send you a package to send the tooth and the candy back in.' But, I'm not real sure I'm going to send it back to them or not because they could keep the evidence and I'm not sure if I would ever see it again."

Holding on to the evidence, Calhoun says she was offered free candy bar coupons and an apology letter from Mars.

"What I think I'll do is have my little dentist down here in Brownsboro...examine the tooth and see if it was a jaw tooth," she said.

No matter what kind of tooth it was, Calhoun says she has lost her sweet tooth, at least for a while.

The following is the statement released by Josh Criscoe with APCO Worldwide from Mars Chocolate North America in response to the situation:

We recently learned of the possible presence of a foreign object in one package of our Milky Way product, in the Brownsboro, TX area. Food safety and product quality are of paramount importance to Mars and we are committed to the highest standards of quality and safety. We therefore take issues such as these extremely seriously. We have been in touch with Ms. Calhoun and have already taken steps to ensure that the product in question is returned to us for evaluation. Since we are currently in the middle of this process, no conclusion has been reached at this time.

All Mars products are manufactured and tested through a series of strict processes, based on recognized international standards. We remain confident in the quality and safety of our products.

From: http://www.kltv.com/Global/story.asp?S=11830168