Woolworths investigates possible toxic spinach leaf found in salad packet

Woolworths is investigating after a customer claimed to have found a potentially “highly toxic” spinach leaf in a bag of salad mix purchased from the store.

A salad lover has been left gagging after discovering a spiky and possibly “highly toxic” leaf in their Woolworths mix bag.

The customer shared their concerning find to Reddit after they noticed the “barbed” leaf in a bag of Woolworths brand baby spinach leaves on Saturday.

“Can anyone identify this barbed leaf I bought from Woolworths’ baby spinach packet,” they asked in their post.

A Reddit user claims they found a spiky spinach leaf in Woolworths salad bag.

The customer explained they had already eaten most of the salad before noticing the concerning leaf on their plate and was worried they may have consumed some.

Many commenters agreed the leaf was from a plant in the Solanum family (commonly known as yellow fruit nightshade), and said some varieties can be poisonous to humans.

“I suspect it’s Solanum Prinophyllum or one of the various Solanum varieties,” one user wrote.

“Solanum Prinophyllum is native Australian and found on the east coast. Pretty common and grows in disturbed soils.

“The leaf shape can look a bit like rocket, so easy to miss if it’s growing in among rocket. Likely a plant grew in wherever the rocket was farmed and a bit was harvested accidentally.

“Apparently it’s poisonous to cats but generally not especially problematic for humans.”

A Reddit user claims they found a spiky spinach leaf in Woolworths salad bag.

Another user told the customer “may have missed a bullet”, claiming the leaf could be “highly toxic”.

A Woolworths spokesman told NCA NewsWire the suspicious looking spinach leaf had been noted by its investigation team.

“We take food quality and safety very seriously and are disappointed to see this customer’s report,” he said.

“We’ve passed this onto our supply partners to look into further and haven’t received similar reports.

“If our customers are ever concerned with the quality of our products, we encourage them to contact their local store for a replacement and refund.”

The discovery comes just weeks after a nationwide spinach recall after a child was hospitalised from eating a toxic batch of spinach.

Up to 100 people across Australia are believed to have fallen ill after eating the contaminated product, including a Queensland child in December.