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Goshen woman discovers ‘squid-like’ substance in her drink

| 17 May 2017 | 05:43
    Source: Barbara Kline's Facebook page Barbara Kline of Goshen posted photos of what she found in her Vita Coco coconut water.
    Source: Barbara Kline's Facebook page Barbara Kline of Goshen posted photos of what she found in her Vita Coco coconut water.
    Source: Barbara Kline's Facebook page Barbara Kline of Goshen posted photos of what she found in her Vita Coco coconut water.
    Source: Barbara Kline's Facebook page Barbara Kline of Goshen posted photos of what she found in her Vita Coco coconut water.
    Source: Barbara Kline's Facebook page Barbara Kline of Goshen posted photos of what she found in her Vita Coco coconut water.
    Source: Barbara Kline's Facebook page Barbara Kline of Goshen posted photos of what she found in her Vita Coco coconut water.

BY ERIKA NORTON
GOSHEN — After swallowing something odd, Barbara Kline of Goshen opened up the carton of Vita Coco Coconut water she was drinking.
Inside was a large clump of a greenish-brown “squid-like” substance.
She immediately got sick. She posted her experience on Facebook and it went viral, shared more than 70,000 times.
Now she wants to get to the bottom of what was on the bottom.
“I just want answers and clarification,” Kline said. “My health is much more important than money right now.”
Even days afterward, Kline said she still feels sick and has been back and forth to the doctor. Her asthma is acting up, she said.
“All I want to know is what this is,” she said.
Arthur Gallego, global director of corporate communications for Vita Coco, believes he has the answer.
“What Ms. Kline encountered was random spoilage and does not pose a health risk," he said. "What she claims she found is the result of either leaving the package opened and unrefrigerated, or her opening an already damaged beverage unit.”
In a press release, the company said it's confident that what Kline found is mold.
Gallego said the company has tried since April 26 to retrieve the spoiled product from Kline so they can test it, but she has refused. He says she also refused to allow the insurance company to pick up the product from her home.
“If the consumer truly wanted answers, she would have cooperated or had the product tested by now," Gallego said.
He said Vita Coco is 100 percent confident in the quality and safety of all its beverages, and that this is not an issue any consumer globally should be concerned about.
But other, similar discoveries in Vita Coco products can be found documented on YouTube and Facebook.
Kline said she bought the coconut water at the Chester ShopRite, and said that after the incident, she called the ShopRite to warn them to take it off their shelves so no one else could get sick.
“I'm never drinking it again,” she said. “I try so hard to bring myself to drink other coconut waters because it's really all I drink.
She said she is talking with her lawyer about how to proceed.