Parents Beware: Families Find Dangerous Weapons in McDonald's Happy Meals
McDonald’s Happy Meals are famous for having a surprise inside, but for two Michigan families recently, the surprise was not of the good variety.
Kayla Almashy told WXYZ-TV she bought her daughter a Happy Meal in May at an outlet in the Detroit suburb of Brighton.
As has become their usual routine, her daughter opened the food container and soon asked, “Mama, will you open my toy?”
But Almashy was horrified at what her daughter handed her.
“When I grabbed it, it was a box cutter,” said Almashy.
To make matters worse, another mom reported the same thing happening with her child on June 11.
Dawn Paret told WXYZ her daughter discovered a box cutter in her Happy Meal that day when her husband stopped with the kids to buy food at a McDonald’s in Warren, another Detroit suburb.
“She opened up the box looking for the toy and he was getting the 2-year-old set up,” Paret said. “And she turned around, looked at him and held that out and said, ‘dad, what is this?'”
Neither family reported injuries, but both were extremely frightened by the experience.
“Anything could have happened,” Paret told the TV station. “And that’s what’s scary.”
They reported the disturbing find to restaurant management.
“They basically just said that it’s they have a catchall box that’s a Happy Meal box and someone must have just accidentally grabbed it,” said Paret.
Almashy said all she got was the offer of a free dessert item.
She ended up posting a warning to other parents on social media.
Almashy noted: “I brought it to Facebook, not to, like, bash McDonald’s, but it was to bring other parents, you know, to be more aware, to check their kids’ meals, because I didn’t.”
The incident prompted Paret to contact police.
“I understand accidents happen,” she said. “It’s just … I need to know … how this happened exactly.
“I understand everyone makes mistakes. Of course, we’re all human. But I just want to know how and why that happened.”
The news outlet contacted the restaurants, which both referred them to the McDonald’s corporate office, which provided a statement saying, “The safety of customers and employees is our top priority, and we take these claims seriously. We have been in touch with the customers involved and are continuing to investigate.”
Happy Meals are special meals marketed to kids with colorful packaging that contains food items and a special toy. They have been around since the late 1970s, according to the Chicago Tribune.
A 2017 report indicated McDonald’s sold 3.2 million Happy Meals per day, raking in $10 million per day on that one menu item alone.
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