Pensioners eat promotional soil and seeds mistaken for biscuits

A group of pensioners were left with a nasty taste in their mouths after mistaking packs of soil for biscuits. The residents of a care home in Weymouth told of their horror after choking on mouthfuls of grit after mistaking a branded butter's promotional pack of soil and seeds for biscuits. Three elderly people in the space of two hours alerted the manager of Lawrence Court residential care homes in Southill Garden Drive, Weymouth to the ‘misleading’ Lurpak giveaway.



John and Jean Hobbs’ delight at finding what they thought were free biscuits with their butter turned to disgust when mud filled their mouths and they realised it was a lump of soil and dill seeds. Pensioner John, 79, said: “It was just as though I’d got a mouthful of grit, it was terrible. You imagine that young children would think ‘that’s edible’ but even the seeds weren’t edible so we got a double dose – seeds that weren’t edible as well as a mouth of grit.

“It was especially confusing because it was attached to food. You wouldn’t go into a garden centre and get a pot plant with a sandwich strapped underneath. It could have been dangerous if we’d swallowed mouthfuls of it, we had to spit it out. My wife had a coughing fit, she was in a terrible state.”



Residential care home manager Sharon Grange is warning people to be aware of the possible danger. She said: “You wouldn't think to read the pack because it looks so much like cookies. It’s really dangerous – how many other people have done this if that’s three people in a couple of hours? Why have they made them to look like cookies?”