A birthday celebration turned into a nightmare for a family in Maharashtra. Her 3-year-old son accidentally swallowed two metal nails attached to chocolate decorations on a birthday cake.
A 3-year-old boy in Maharashtra unknowingly swallowed two nails stuck in his birthday cake. These nails were hidden inside chocolate decorations. This incident turned a family’s celebration into horror. Sneha Shelar, who lives in Hiranandani Estate, Thane, is a biology teacher. Her son is fine now and has recovered without surgery, but she is unable to forget that horrifying scene. “My son’s birthday cake became the scariest nightmare of my life,” Sneha said.
The family had gathered for a Spider-Man themed party on the evening of Reyansh’s birthday on May 31. The cake was also specially designed like a bowling alley. Everything seemed perfect. “Everything was just as I had dreamed of – the decorations, the cake and our entire family. I mean, everything she loved,” he recalled.
But the next day, which was Reyansh’s actual birthday, the family was rushing to the hospital instead of cutting the cake and making memories. According to Sneha, a bakery in Thane had inserted metal wires inside the chocolate bowling pins to support them. But he reportedly did not tell the family about this even though they were informed that the cake was meant for small children and toddlers.
The dangerous thing came to light when older children attending the party noticed metal wires hidden in some of the decoration pieces and immediately told their parents. Fearing something untoward, Reyansh’s family took him to the hospital for a checkup the next morning. “The scan revealed two metal nails stuck in his small intestine,” his mother said.
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Doctors at Jupiter Hospital took stock of the situation and advised not to do surgery. He explained that the metal fragments had already entered the intestine. Instead, he advised careful monitoring and waiting for the nails to fall out naturally. “Reyansh is safe now. Both the wires came out naturally after 48 hours. But those 48 hours were the worst of my life,” Sneha said in a social media post.
She also urged other parents to exercise caution and question bakers about hidden supports in cakes and whether decorations are completely edible. The family contacted Kasarvadavali police to fix accountability. But he was told that the matter falls under the jurisdiction of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). At the same time, FDA officials said that the investigation cannot proceed without samples of the cake or the chocolate bowling pin involved in the incident.
Commenting on the matter, Shirish Deshpande of Maharashtra Grahak Parishad pointed towards consumer protection laws that could provide relief to affected families.
“This law covers not only physical harm but also mental suffering,” he said. He also said that affected families can seek compensation in consumer courts.