James Main was happily chomping away on the popular cereal before he cracked two of his teeth on the metal object.

He was sitting at the breakfast table with his six-year-old brother and three-year-old cousin when the incident happened.

The makers of Shreddies, Nestlé, carried out an investigation and claimed it was 'impossible' for the pin to have fallen into the cereal during the manufacturing process.

The incident left James' parents horrified – and claimed it could have been fatal if any one of the children had swallowed the 3.5cm pin.

"James ran up to me and said he'd found something in his Shreddies. I just assumed it was a toy," said mum Emma, of Winterbourne Road, Chichester.

"The pin could have killed James.

"I could have been saying to my sister that her son had been seriously injured – or worse.

"The worrying thing is Shreddies are aimed at children.

"I knew grannies knitted the cereals but I didn't know they were dropping pins in them!"

James had chipped one tooth, which can't be fixed, and had to have a filling in another after the incident.

His parents wrote to Nestlé and sent them the pin. The family asked Nestlé to send someone to speak with them but it refused to do so.

The environmental health department at Chichester District Council is looking into the matter to discover whether the pin was inside the Shreddies or not.

A Nestlé spokesman said: "We were sorry to learn of the issue from Mrs Main.

"We offered vouchers to her as a gesture of goodwill and completed a full investigation upon receiving the sample.

"The results of our investigation concluded that, in view of the rigorous processes within the factory, it would have been impossible for a domestic safety pin to have found its way into a Shreddies packet during the manufacturing process."

Mr and Mrs Main were not happy with the vouchers and sent them back to Nestlé.

"It's quite clear to us it was added during the manufacturing process," added Mrs Main.

"Nestlé don't want to know – it's just insulting. I have to think twice about letting them eat Shreddies now."




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