Family Says It Found Maggots In Baby Food
Gerber Offers To Track Down Source Of Problem

POSTED: 11:32 am EST January 10, 2008



PITTSBURG, Calif. -- A California mother told San Francisco television station KTVU that she found maggots in two jars of baby food as she was preparing to feed her infant.

The family lives in Pittsburg, but mother Denetra Tims said she bought the baby food at a Target store in San Ramon. The parents said the problem was with two jars of Gerber brand food.

It was dinnertime Tuesday night when Tims went to the cupboard for a jar of baby food to feed her 8-month-old daughter, Nyla. That's when, she said, she made a sickening discovery. "I went to pull it out and then I looked at it and I was like, 'What is that?' And I just thought it was a piece of something on there," said Tims. "And I just saw a little squiggle and I was like 'Oh my God. That's a maggot.'"

Tims showed KTVU the jars, now wrapped tightly in a bag. Right around the lid of the Gerber's sweet potato and turkey baby food, you can see the white wormy shapes of maggots snugly nestled underneath the plastic seal.

"So you could see it stretching out and moving back. I was just totally disgusted," Tims said.

Her husband had the same reaction: "It was very disgusting seeing the maggots, especially right next to your baby," Shawn Tims said.

He said he'd just fed his baby girl Gerber baby food from a different jar the night before, which only added to his consternation.

"I'm thinking, 'Did she possibly eat one? Was there one in her food?'" he said.

They immediately checked the other bottles they had to see if there were more maggots.

"And I pulled out the last one and it had two on them. So two bottles out of the four [had maggots]," Tims said.

The parents showed KTVU the cash register receipt from the Target store in San Ramon. It indicated they bought the food on Jan. 3. Shawn Tims said he called the Gerber company and said the operator told him Gerber wasn't to blame.

"She said it probably happened during the distribution or the stocking of the actual store," he said.

But hours later, Gerber called back to say they would send someone out to inspect the bottles and get the tracking number to trace the problem.

"There's other people that I'm sure have bottles that could be in the same conditions, not even here, but in other places as well," Shawn Tims said.

The couple said they just want their money back and hope someone will figure out what happened. They also advised other parents to check packaging before buying things.

KTVU contacted Gerber but have not received any response. Members of the staff at the Target store where the baby food was bought say they're not allowed to respond on camera, but said they would be glad to work with Gerber and give the Tims a refund.

http://www.wfsb.com/family/15020704/detail.html