A mum is worried her daughter’s voice has permanently been damaged by the ‘world’s sourest sweet’.
Mia-Rose Bowyer, 10, had gone for a sleepover with her sister and cousins over the weekend to watch films and scran on snacks.
And with her mum Stevie’s permission, she’d asked her aunty if she could try the sour sweet from Mr Simms after seeing it on TikTok.
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The kid from Reading explained: "I saw videos on TikTok of other children trying the Black Death sweet. I saw them pull funny faces and wanted to try it."
But she was shocked by the sourness the moment it hit her tongue – instantly wanting to spit out the black-coloured toffee.
And as it took her breath away, Mia-Rose accidentally inhaled the sweet and it got stuck down her throat.
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Her terrified aunt quickly started performing the Heimlich manoeuvre as 999 was called while the kid’s lips turned blue. After roughly two minutes, she finally managed to get the sweet out and was rushed to hospital.
Mia-Rose said she thought she ‘was going to die’ after having the ‘really sour’ sweet.
Doctors put her on oxygen, steroids and antibiotics to help her breathe and prevent further swelling as videos of her in hospital show her giving a giving a scary, growling & gurgling sound rumbling from her throat as she breathes.
Mr Simms is removing the sweets from sale while an ‘investigation’ takes place.
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Left with a ‘sore and burnt’ throat, Mia-Rose certainly ‘would never have a sweet like that again’ as she’s left scared to eat and waiting to hear if there has been permanent damage done to her vocal cords.
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.
Stevie said: “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'.
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"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.”
The mum said ‘you don’t think twice’ about things like this when kids want to try something and she assumed it couldn’t ‘be that bad’ if it was in a sweet shop.
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"You think it's just a sour sweet that people can't handle. I thought the worst they would do is spit it out,” she added.
Stevie feared she would be ‘going home to no child – a lifeless child’ when she got the call about her choking.
"While my sister was doing all she could, Mia ended up getting her hand and dislodging the sweet."
Mia-Rose spent three days in hospital before being given the all-clear to go home.
"When a consultant came to see me he said 'imagine a third-degree burn on her arm but down her throat',” the mum explained.
"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.”
Stevie is warning other parents of the potential dangers as she hopes the sweet isn’t put back on shelves.
"It shouldn't be on TikTok, it shouldn't even be sold in the shops. They're on TikTok but then they're put onto YouTube - you see them all over the place,” she said.
A spokesperson for Mr Simms Olde Sweet Shoppe 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 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 spokesperson for YouTube told LADbible in a statement: "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."
Topics: Health, Social Media, Parenting, TikTok, YouTube, UK News
Jess Battison