A TODDLER was rushed to hospital after drinking a fruit juice that contained an “acetone-like” liquid.

Karl Easterbrook was out in the town centre with daughter Hunter on Friday, when he bought a four-pack of Poundstretcher's own-brand blackcurrant juice drink Cool Crush from the budget supermarket.

Hunter, who turns two later this year, enjoyed the first bottle without incident. But later in the afternoon, she grabbed for another bottle – but kept spitting the juice out.

Now the chain has recalled the children’s drink from its shelves nationwide after the incident, which left the youngster's parents petrified.

Mum Chloe-Louise, 32, from Blunsdon, said: “She obviously didn’t like it. Karl knew something was wrong. She wasn’t being silly.

“He tasted it himself and realised it wasn’t right.”

Rather than the sweetly cloying taste of blackcurrant the liquid in the bottle smelled like acetone.

“The only thing I can say it smelled like is when you walk into a nail bar. The liquid was almost clear,” Chloe-Louise said.

“Karl texted me to say he was on the phone to NHS 111 and Hunter had drunk something she shouldn’t have.

“He panicked. I went into panic and ran from where I was in town to go and meet them.

“We had the worry of not knowing what it was she’d drunk.”

The couple raced Hunter to A&E on the advice of the 111 call handler. Doctors told Chloe-Louise and Karl there was little they could do without knowing what it was in the bottle, aside from keep the tot under observation for six hours and make sure she kept drinking fluids.

Karl went back to the Poundstretcher store on Regent Street and raised a complaint with the manager, who he claimed asked a member of her checkout staff to taste the foul-smelling liquid.

Asked what message she had for the high street chain, Chloe-Louise said: “Take the product off the shelves – and, probably, retrain your management team.”

A few days on from her juice ordeal, Hunter is said to be doing well – but isn’t keen on drinking from a bottle.

Mum Chloe-Louise said: “We are just glad she’s at an age where she knows to spit something out if it’s not right.”

Approached by the Adver, a spokesman for Poundstretcher last night said the product had been recalled from shelves nationwide: “We would like to apologise and wish the Easterbrook family well regarding this isolated incident that occurred last week.

“We have been in contact with them through our customer services department and have co-operated with them in providing further assistance and information.

“Upon being informed of the incident, we immediately recalled both the blackcurrant and orange variants from all our stores.

“The supplier has also been made aware of the incident and has been advised to investigate further with the family. We are currently awaiting a response from the manufacturer as to the cause and the steps taken to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

“Our store operations department have been advised to look into re-training our staff on what they should do if a similar incident should arise in the future.”

Earlier this summer, Poundstretcher hit headlines after a Swindon artist claimed she had been asked to leave the Regent Street store as staff found her black clothing “intimidating”.

Goth Helen Pace, 50, told the Adver: “I had just walked in, put two items in my basket and gone down one aisle before a young woman stopped me and said I need to leave because one of the staff members found me intimidating.”