An angry mum says severe food poisoning could have killed her daughter on her birthday – after she ate a ‘raw’ chicken kebab that ‘looked like it was still clucking’.
Georgie Dunn and her three kids were scoffing a Friday night takeaway when 12-year-old daughter Esme pulled a half-eaten piece from her mouth. The 39-year-old says she saw it ‘wasn’t even white’ and immediately contacted the Kent coast kebab shop who asked her to send photos of the dodgy-looking poultry.
The shocking images show multiple pieces of chicken Georgie claims look as if they ‘hadn’t touched heat at all’. Georgie says the takeaway owner visited the home that night [October 4] with a £10 refund and a replacement kebab – but the family had already been put off their food.
Esme began complaining with stomach pains three days later and was rushed to an urgent treatment centre later that week with a high temperature [October 10]. The schoolgirl spent three days in hospital, including her 12th birthday, which her mum says she ‘didn’t care about’ because of the pain.
The beauty therapist, who lives with husband Tim Dunn, 42, says she was left in so much agony that she was unable to stand, walk or talk. It’s claimed blood tests later revealed the presence of a bacteria called campylobacter, which causes food poisoning and is often caught from raw chicken.
The World Health Organisation says campylobacter can be fatal to young children.
Georgie, from a coastal town in Kent, said: “In the run up to her birthday, I think she was in so much pain that by the time it arrived she didn’t actually care. The hospital kitchen staff stood at her hospital room door and sang her happy birthday.
“When we received the campylobacter results from the doctor a week later, it dawned on us that it was the chicken. I wanted blood. I was angry. The first thing that came up when I read into campylobacter is that it can be fatal in children. I don’t think the owner understands the severity of it.
“When I’d cut into my kebab I asked Tim if the chicken looked a bit pink but we thought it was just due to it being a different cut of meat. Then Esme showed me a piece of chicken that I thought she’d picked up off her plate but I now know that she had pulled it out of her mouth.
“I told her to put it down and go and wash her hands then I immediately phoned the kebab shop then I told them it was raw chicken, but they said it couldn’t be. When I showed him the chicken from Esme’s plate he agreed that it was raw and I knew it was raw.
![Esme Dunn, 12, in hospital with what her mum says was food poisoning [Face blurred on mum's request]](https://i2-prod.bristolpost.co.uk/incoming/article10020449.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/0_KNM_RAW_CHICKEN_RUINS_BIRTHDAY_9.jpg)
“They couldn’t argue with it. It was still clucking. If you cut a chicken breast and you cut an inch off it – that’s exactly what it looked like. It hadn’t touched heat at all – it wasn’t even white on the outside.”
It was three days after consuming the ‘raw’ chicken that Esme first complained to her mum of a stomach ache [October 7]. Her symptoms worsened on Thursday [October 10] so Georgie rushed her to an urgent treatment centre with just three days until her birthday [October 13].
Georgie said: “When she was saying where it hurt, I thought it could be appendicitis. I took her to our urgent treatment centre and they rushed her through. The doctors were pushing on her tummy and she was nearly off the bed with the pain.
“She was in so much pain that she couldn’t even talk. She needed help going to the toilet every 15 minutes. She still mentions the birthday cake that was supposed to be made for her – I think that’s what bothered her the most.
“My friend makes cakes and it was going to be a white chocolate cake with white fondant buttercream and sparklers and chocolate bars on top. She opened her cards but wasn’t really bothered. All she wanted to do was have a bath and get into bed.”
“We were supposed to go to a trampoline park with some of her friends too. They credited the booking into a voucher but we still haven’t been. It was such a shame that she missed out on all of it.”
Georgie says she blew up birthday balloons ahead of Esme arriving home late in the evening on her birthday. She adds it then took a week [October 21] for test results to confirm Esme had been suffering from life-threatening campylobacter.
The mum-of-three fears her two-year-old child may have died if she’d have eaten some of the kebab and posted a warning to Facebook. One commented: “That’s disgusting.”
A second said: “Wow, I’m so sorry you and your daughter went through that, how scary! Food safety needs to be taken so much more seriously, that could have been a much worse outcome for your daughter.”
A third added: “Campylobacter is no joke, I hope your daughter is feeling better now.”