Foreign Matter - entire gold crown in a chocolate covered caramel

A customer claimed to have found an entire gold crown in a small (13 gram) chocolate covered caramel.  The complaint and images showed that they found the piece when they bit into the caramel.  

The piece was sent back to me and it is definitely an intact gold crown from someone's tooth.

The caramels are made in copper pots in the kitchen, hand poured onto a water-jacketed table, cut into small squares, and had fed onto the bottomer. Once enrobed, the pieces are then hand-packed into bulk boxes- which are sent through a very sensitive metal detector.  The finished product is a hand-packed 5-piece sleeve.

After reviewing all of the paperwork, I am clueless on the best response to the customer claim.  We have one person responsible for making the caramel in the kitchen and we interviewed that individual.  There were no issues noted with the metal detector during the run- and nothing to indicate metal was detected.  When I re-run the piece through the same metal detector using the same setup, it definitely sets off the machine.  

We have not heard back from the customer, but I am clueless on the best response to the claim.  Based on our process and records review, there is nothing to indicate the "gold crown" could have been embedded int eh product and originated from out facility.  Please help.  

You should say to the customer exactly what you said in your post. 

I agree, your explanation is perfect for describing what happened and what you did to prevent.

Ask the customer if he is missing a gold crown.  I'd sure like to find a gold crown...with the price of gold these days.

Ask for it back and send the customer a free box of caramels in return. :smile:

Seriously as the others have said your post seems like a good reply.

Regards,

Simon