To ask you ‘what the *** you think I ate?’

[AandEembarrassment]

NC as very specific!!

Bought a prepacked sandwich on way home. First bite was super super salty, so thought may be there was a pocket of salt. Second bite the same but then my mouth started burning. That lasted for 20 minutes. Only had those two bites. No chilli or rocket etc in it, no chilli used by company. Chemical taste. Mouth now left with that post emulsifier taste (two hours on) but no burning.

I phoned 111 and they sent me to A&E. vitals all fine at triage so home now as nothing they can do and I’m not experiencing any symptoms. Thank goodness - didn’t fancy staying in hospital with ‘sandwich mouth’ - most embarrassing when there are people with actual problems!

But what are your best guesses about what it was? I eat black pepper, rocket and chilli and it was none of those. Tasted like a chemical rather than food. Anyone have experience of making pre-packaged sandwiches and what can go wrong please?

Never eating there again!!

Thanks. If I ever get an answer I’ll update!

When I was a teenager I found a very weird blue substance in my shop bought vegetable pastie that I heated up at home. My Dad called environmental health, in the days before email, they came and took it away. It turns out it was a melted blue plaster 🤢. Must have come off someone’s finger in the factory.

Mind you, parmesan is very salty and it's high in histamine and can cause an allergic reaction. It might have been off too.

Thank you 🙏

Oh dear lord. That is grim. I think I need to just make my own food from now on. 🤢

"Sandwich mouth" has made me laugh! Especially in the context of a medical issue. "38-year old female, no known allergies, presenting with severe sandwich mouth. Nurse, we're going to need 50g of cucumber slices and 200 ml of whole milk, stat! "

I had a similar thing once at a restaurant with a creme brulee or panna cotta or something similar in a ramekin. Really weird chemical taste which completely dried my mouth out. I sent it back but the wait staff were really young and didn't do anything. I think there was cleaning product on the dish, but god knows what. Could taste it for hours.

Oh. Could be.

My partner who works in food says all sandwiches and wraps are handmade- if you saw them made, it would put you off for life - so I'm guessing it's not cleaning product as there are no machines in the process of making the sandwich.

😂😂😂

The doctor did actually recommend I drink milk when I got home. 😂

Oh dear god. What’s his best guess at what it was? 🤢

If you do not have any burns then it's not likely to be from a chemical (that shouldn't be in there). Plus it wouldn't just be localised to your mouth. It will be from one of those other ingredients or preservatives. I'm sensitive to citrus. I get that burning feeling (and canker sores) from avocado-based things because lemon juice is often used to stop avocados from turning brown.

I was thinking the Parmesan was the saltiness too. Perhaps a different supplier to previous .

I react to some parmesan but not all - it's the histamine. My money is on an allergy to the parmesan

No idea - maybe too much salt / or filling not mixed well. It's one of the productions that is labour intensive because they can't get a machine to do it.

Basically they smosh your filling on and cut by hand. 😂

Always report food safety and contamination issues to environmental health at your local council.

This is an example Food complaints we can and can't deal with | Food safety complaints | Norwich City Council

They might also have the facilities or have access to facilities to have it tested.

It's more important that you report this to your local council as an enforcer of food safety rather than to the seller.

People listening to You and Yours at lunchtime today on Radio 4 may have been surprised shocked to hear that some well known supermarkets have been lying to misleading the public by displaying false food hygiene ratings...

Always report food safety issues to your local council

Yes I think the fat in milk absorbs spicy stuff and helps to remove it from the inside of your mouth, so maybe it's a general thing that it helps with anything that might cause damage / pain. I'd go for ice cream if you have any, you get cold + milk then. Not to mention deliciousness 😆

Guys I am fully invested in the outcome now. They better test the sandwich at environmental health I wanna know. OP if you ever find out we're all here for it!

there is loads of different salts. The one we know is sodium chloride. There is many others and they are often used as cleaning products. Sodium carbonate - that is the salt that is used in washing powder. Dissolved in water it reacts with water to form hydroxide which is a cleaner. Sodium phosphate is another salt that does the same thing. It is also a used as a cleaner. There is a whole class of basic salts they are called - that are used as cleaning products.

HOWEVER I am defining them as salts in the scientific definition of a salt. I have never eaten them so I have no idea if all these things have a salty taste.

It can be dried yeast flaked powder, which is a modern substitute for msg. Like yeast extract (marmite) can be very salty and could be through the whole wrap. If it says enhanced b12 then that could be it. Salt is also added to the bread wrap usually. If the mix didn't mix properly then it's possible you got a huge dose. Did the inside of your nose burn?

I had ‘pine mouth’ from a salad with a tiny sprinkling of pine nuts. I’d eaten them numerous times before but this must have been a different type as my mouth felt really weird - burning and a metallic, chemical taste. It also affected how other food tasted and made it unpleasant to eat. It was strong for a few days, then gradually receded over a week or two.

I reckon it’s a mix of Parmesan with pine nuts, causing the salty, chemically burn.

It sounds like you may have developed an allergy to something

Either way a&e was a good call, your arm could be hanging on by a thread and someone on here would come on and say why did you go to a&e 🙄

A slug?

It ended up on the piece of bread I put down on the bread board (it was on the breadboard and I wasn't concentrating)
It tastes salty but obviously chemical but that wasn't inside with lots of other flavours.

I had a tuna sandwich a few months ago that tasted so salty I couldn't eat it. But it turns out it's me, everything tastes weird, the Dr isn't sure why but my bloods are ok.