Woman fears daughter, 10, will have permanent damage after choking on sweet trying new TikTok trend
A woman has been left fearing that her 10-year-old daughter will have permanent damage after choking on a sweet dubbed 'Black Death' while trying out a new TikTok trend.
Now, while the trend isn't just limited to TikTok and is happening across other social media platforms as well, little Mia-Rose Bowyer tragically suffered 'chemical-like' burns when trying out the challenge she'd seen on the app.
Her mum, 32-year-old Stevie Bowyer, is now warning fellow parents about the potential dangers and is urging the sweet shop to pull the product from shelves entirely.
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Mia-Rose was at a sleepover at her aunties house with her sister, Olivia Bowyer, 13, and cousins where she had asked her auntie, with mum Stevie's permission, to try the super-sour sweet from confectionary chain Mr Simms after seeing kids on TikTok trying it.
"I saw videos on TikTok of other children trying the Black Death sweet. I saw them pull funny faces and wanted to try it," the child, from Reading, Berkshire, said.
"I was at my aunty's house having a sleepover. At first when it went into my mouth it wasn't sour but then it went really sour."
But the black-coloured toffee took her breath away and instead of spitting it out, she inhaled it and it got stuck down her throat.
She continued: "I went to spit it out, [but] it rolled back [down my throat]. It was really scary."
Mum-of-three Stevie said Mia-Rose had seen clips of people trying the sweet on other people's TikTok and YouTube accounts and wanted to try it out herself.
Black Death is a sweet, available exclusively through traditional-style confectionery retailer Mr Simms, and is marketed as 'the most sour sweet ever'.
The acid-coated lemon flavour sweet comes with a warning that it 'may cause temporary mouth and/or stomach irritation' and that it's not suitable for children under eight.
Full-time mum 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'.
"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.
"I thought 'well if it's not sold to under eights and it's in a sweet shop it can't be that bad'. But obviously I thought wrong."
Stevie carried on: "You don't think twice about these things when the kids say 'I want to try that'.
"People record themselves and their reactions to taking the sweet. It comes up with all sorts of videos and there's children on there trying it.
"You think it's just a sour sweet that people can't handle. I thought the worst they would do is spit it out."
However, when her phone rang that fateful evening, Stevie could hear 'everybody screaming' and 'kids crying'.
"At this time Mia still had the sweet lodged in her throat, I could hear them trying to get it out. I felt sick and I was shaking," she recalled.
"When you're being told that I was just lost for words, it was like I could be going home to no child - a lifeless child. I feared she could die.
"It ended up being [stuck] nearly two minutes, by this time her lips had already gone blue."
While Stevie's sister was 'doing all she could' including doing the Heimlich manoeuvre while dialling 999, Mia ended up getting her hand and dislodging the sweet after around two minutes.
"It was a relief when it came out," Mia-Rose explained. "When the sweet came out I threw it on the floor and cuddled my aunty. I thought I was going to die.
"My throat is sore and burnt, I would never have a sweet like that again."
She was later rushed to Royal Berkshire Hospital where doctors put her on oxygen, hooked to an IV drip and put on steroids to combat swelling and help her breathing.
After three days in hospital where she had scans and x-rays, Mia-Rose - who's currently scared to eat following the traumatic ordeal - was given the all-clear to come home but needs a follow-up appointment to see if there's any permanent damage.
Stevie said: "When a consultant came to see me he said 'imagine a third-degree burn on her arm but down her throat'.
"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. She's a little bit scared to eat at the minute."
Stevie is now sharing what happened to warn other parents about the potential dangers and is urging the sweet shop to pull the product from shelves.
"It should be an 18+ thing, but honestly I don't think it should be sold at all because it could happen to anybody," the mum added.
"TikTok allowing videos like this annoys me. It's become a craze 'oh try this it's just a sour sweet'."
She also added that it 'shouldn't be on TikTok' and 'shouldn't even be sold in the shops'.
A spokesman for Mr Simms Olde Sweet Shoppe, a business with more than 50 directly owned and franchised shops in the UK and Hong Kong 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.
YouTube has also been contacted for comment.
Topics: Real Life, Food and Drink, Health, Advice, UK News, News
Rhiannon Ingle