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California Family Finds Needles In Store-Bought Apples

After buying some apples for her family, Sandra Nguyen of Fallbrook, California, was in for a nasty surprise when she got home.
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This sounds like one of those Halloween urban legends — an apple with a needle inside of it — but that appears to be what was on the shelf at a California grocery store. (Video via KGTV

"How could someone do this kind of thing?" said the Nguyen family member who first discovered a needle.

As our partners at KGTV report, Sandra Nguyen of Fallbrook, California, bought five Honeycrisp apples for her family at a nearby Albertsons grocery store. But she was in for a nasty surprise when she got home.

First, the family's father found a sewing needle when biting into one of the apples.

"My mom came into my room, 'Look what your dad found!'" Sandra Nguyen said. "The kids were running around, 'There's a needle in the apple!'"

Then 9-year-old Hannah found another when slicing an apple.

"It is surprising when something like that happens to you," Sandra Nguyen said. "Picturing the psychology is a bit difficult."

After discovering the second needle, the Nguyens contacted the store, which in turn immediately pulled the apples. Employees also contacted police and checked surveillance video.

The store didn't find any other needles in the pulled apples and is now checking with vendors and distributors to see where the needles could have come from.

Local law enforcement has reportedly launched an investigation to discover the sources of the needles. As for 9-year-old Hannah, San Diego's KNSD reports she's sticking to oranges.