ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

A two-year-old girl was rushed to hospital in Germany after allegedly drinking from a bottle of disinfectant found inside her McDonald's Happy Meal.

Her mother only realised that something was wrong when her daughter began sipping from a bottle of "strong smelling liquid" purchased from a drive-through in Kassel, Germany. She had ordered water for the child.

The toddler turned bright red and screamed as they drove away from the fast-food restaurant. She was initially treated by paramedics before being taken to hospital.

Her mother later returned to confront McDonalds staff about the incident and she then called the police, who allegedly told her the girl was lucky not to have been seriously injured.

An investigation was launched for causing bodily harm by negligence since there was no evidence of intentional harm towards the child.

Police believe the bottle had been used by cleaning staff and was placed in the Happy Meal packaging by mistake.

A spokesperson for McDonalds in Germany claims the fast food chain is "fully cooperating with the investigation" but could make no further comment.

Pouring cleaning fluids into an unlabelled bottle had fatal consequences at a Scottish care home in 2023. A 90-year-old Alzheimer's patient died after drinking the contents of such a container which had been left in his room by accident.

The primary cause of death was acute tracheobronchitis and pneumonia resulting from the ingestion of ammonium-based cleaning product. The care home was fined £20,000 in relation to the issue.