[imagesource:flickr]

Just the other day, on 8 November 2024, a local mom went onto social media in a proper huff, claiming she found a live dung beetle doing a breakfast crawl in her son’s bowl of Bokomo Chocolate Pronutro (yes, nogal the 1kg bag).

According to Cape {town} Etc, she didn’t hesitate to spill the tea on TikTok, sharing the full story with anyone keen to have a lekker morning chuckle.

The woman claims she spotted a mysterious brown lump in the Pronutro after pouring it into her kid’s bowl. In true “mom-on-a-mission” mode, she scooped it out, set it aside, and carried on with her day. But when she came back, the lump had vanished!

After a quick ‘CSI: Breakfast’ search, she found it lurking in the cereal, took a closer look, and – surprise, surprise – discovered it was actually a beetle. Not just any beetle, mind you—a dung beetle! Naturally, she popped it into a zip-lock baggie for safekeeping.

Image: TikTok/ thecurvybutterfly

This is a better shot of what she suspects the little critter is:

Image: Wikipedia

As if that wasn’t already a lekker dodge, the beetle started moving, which is when she realised the little guy had probably been hanging out in her cereal since August, like a very unwelcome houseguest. A paediatrician advised a check-up for her kiddo, who had to be tested for E. coli and dewormed on a high dose for four days, just in case the beetle had spread any nasties in the bowl.

Apparently, when she called the company on 8 November to get answers, the operator politely asked if she’d received her replacement voucher. But she wasn’t keen on a voucher – she wanted to know what happened to the batch of Pronutro and where those forensic test results were hiding.

Pepsico Pioneer Foods then sent her an email asking (yet again) about that voucher, with a casual “we’ll get back to you” on the real issue. Frustrated, she took to TikTok to tell her tale and wrapped up her post with a plea:

“Come on, get back to me, let me know what’s going on!” she urged.

Someone else, meanwhile, commented they’d found a moth and a maggot in their Pronutro batch not so long ago.

Hey man, this is a bug’s life and we’re just living in it.

@thecurvybutterfly Found DUNG BEETLE alive in my sons #bokomo #pronutro so if you have from this batch report it to #pioneerfoods customer service #foodsafety #fyp #SAMA28 ♬ original sound – The Curvy Butterfly • Fashion

[source:capetownetc]