A father is warning parents about nasty fungus that could be lurking in their kids' juice drinks after he found mold floating in his child's Capri Sun pouch.
Cameron Hardwick of Columbus, Indiana, discovered a gross blob floating in a pouch of strawberry kiwi-flavored Capri Sun he was going to give to his daughter as treat last month.
Hardwick took to Facebook to alert parents of the find, and his stomach-churning video went viral, amassing more than 21 million views.
"So tonight after dinner our oldest asked for some 'juice' (Capri Sun) as a treat for eating good, I grabbed one out of the refrigerator and notice something odd about it," Hardwick wrote in the post.
"I take a closer look at the packaging and don't notice a hole or anything. So I shake it up some, only to find an unknown substance floating around in the package," he said.
"To say we are irate would be an understatement... we don't give these to our children often but will NEVER again!"
A spokesperson for the Kraft Heinz company, which owns Capri Sun, told TODAY that this was an isolated case of mold growing inside the container.
"Although rare, it is possible for mold to grow inside containers of preservative-free juice drinks if the pouch is punctured in any way on its journey from our facilities to people’s homes,'' Kraft Heinz spokesperson Lynne Galia told TODAY in a statement.
"We understand it’s unpleasant, but the mold is naturally-occurring, just like if you left an apple on your counter for too long and mold begins to grow."
The company reached out to Hardwick on Sept. 25 after seeing the video and tested the juice pouch through a third-party company.
The test revealed a "micro-puncture" in the packaging, which allowed oxygen to enter and cause the mold, Hardwick wrote in a follow-up Facebook post.
Breathing in or touching mold or mold spores may cause allergic reactions or asthma attacks in some people. Molds can irritate the eyes, skin, nose, throat, and lungs, even in people who aren’t allergic to them, the FDA warns.
The company recommends on its website to gently squeeze each pouch to check for leaks, which could allow mold to grow. Any leaky or punctured pouches should be immediately discarded.