Health authorities are investigating after a Perth family claimed their two children were served insect repellent instead of juice at a western suburbs restaurant.
It happened while Marcus and Michele Lemin were out at dinner with their daughters, Hannah and Olivia, on Friday night.
The girls, aged 11 and 12, ordered cranberry juice but were allegedly served a pink-coloured solution of citronella torch and lamp oil.
“My daughters just went to gulp it down and they both spat the cranberry juice out and said ‘it’s poisoned,'” Ms Lemin said.
“I said don’t be silly and took the glass and I went to gulp it down and then spat it out.”
Mr Lemin said he ran to the front counter after smelling the liquid and demanded to see the bottle it came from.
He claimed the staff member initially refused, telling him it was “just old cranberry juice”.
“He took the bottle [out of the fridge] and placed it under the counter,” Mr Lemin said.
“That’s when I sort of said, ‘No, you need to give me the bottle, I need to see what it is.'”
The ABC was supplied with a picture Mr Lemin took of the bottle.
The Mount Claremont family rushed to Perth Children’s Hospital and Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital after receiving advice from the poisons information centre.
“My daughters’ … stomachs were burning, their fingers and hands were tingling,” Ms Lemin said.
“They had a headache … it was awful.”
The children and Ms Lemin were observed in hospital for several hours before being discharged.
Mr Lemin said he had contacted the local council and made a complaint to the Department of Health.
A department spokesperson said it would support the local council, which is responsible for investigating the family’s claims.
“I think it’s pretty simple, right? You can’t manage a restaurant and allow chemicals to be in an area where these sorts of mistakes can happen,” Mr Lemin said.
“As a minimum, there needs to be some steps taken to ensure that they basically adhere to the state safe handling of chemicals and hazardous materials.”
The restaurant – which the ABC has chosen not to name – said it was investigating the incident but declined to comment further.
“We’re lucky that the children weren’t younger,” Ms Lemin said.
“If they were younger children that this happened to, I’d hate to think what would have happened.”
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