An Ajax family is in shock after they say a foreign object they found inside the packaging of a popular halal food item exploded in their kitchen on Wednesday.
Farida Syed says she was opening a packet of Shahi Haleem Mix by Shan Foods — a mixture of masala spices and wheat grains used to make a stew — when she heard a loud pop and something in the box caught fire.
"It was louder than a pop, it was much louder, it was like a firecracker," said Syed. "And then the flames started coming out of the pouch."
Who knows if there is another tampered package out there?- Sheeba Syed
She says she immediately threw the box in the sink and ran water over it to douse the flames. Inside the box, she claims she found a small black pouch with a string attached to it.
The incident has raised questions about the food safety of a dish that is popular in many South Asian Muslim households, just as the fasting month of Ramadan comes to a close.
Although no one was injured, it was a close call. Syed says she normally opens the package with her teeth, but instead decided to use scissors.
"If I had opened it with my teeth, which a lot of women in our community do, my face would have been blown," Syed said. "My face would have been burnt."
A staple in the community
The stew mix is favoured among many in the South Asian community because the ingredients are pre-portioned and it is easy to make.
"This is a go-to item for my fellow South Asians all over North America who use this product day in and day out," said Sheeba Syed, the daughter of Farida Syed.
It's manufactured by a Pakistani company called Shan Foods. (CBC Toronto reached out to Shan Foods for comment, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.)
The family called Durham police who brought in both a bomb squad and a forensics team to investigate, Sheeba Syed says.
Durham police said in a press release that the object was later identified as a "fumigation product normally used to protect the food from insects" and that it is unclear how the object got into the box.
John Lin is the manager of the Blue Sky Supermarket in Pickering, Ont., where Farida Syed says she bought the product. Lin says police came to his store on Wednesday evening, went through every remaining package of Shan stew mix on the shelves and found nothing else suspicious.
"To be honest, I don't know exactly what happened," Lin said. "[The package] was sealed and the expiration date was June 2019."
Lin says he contacted Shan's Canadian distributor, ITN Foods Corporation, to alert them of the incident.
Tariq Ansari, a representative of ITN, said in an emailed statement to CBC Toronto that the company is actively involved in the investigation.
"Based on our current findings this particular incident is isolated but we are vigilantly monitoring the investigation and will provide any update where require," Ansari wrote.
Warning to the public
The Syeds are concerned that another family with Shan Foods products stocked in their cabinets could be in for an unwelcome surprise.
"Everyone in our community knows Shan and has Shan as their staple," said Sheeba Syed. "This is why this was so alarming to us. This could happen to anybody. Who knows if there is another tampered package out there?"
After the incident, Sheeba Syed reached out to her friend Salima Jivraj, who runs the popular blog Halal Foodie, to ask for help in spreading the word about what happened.
"The concern of the family was that they didn't want it to happen to anyone else," Jivraj said. "They said let people to know that this is what happened and to be careful."
Jivraj shared a warning on Instagram to her 20,000-plus followers saying: "This is a personal warning for everyone to NOT PURCHASE this product until we hear more. Truly scary. If you are a retailer - please remove from your shelf."