Cupcakes Off Shelves After Hook Is Found

Vons Grocery Co. has removed from all 179 of its stores packages of Hostess “Sno Ball” cupcakes, after a 9-year-old girl discovered a fishhook in one of the cupcakes purchased at a market in Camarillo, a company spokesman said Saturday.

Suzanne Dyer, spokeswoman for the El Monte-based chain of markets, said the fishhook was found Thursday and that Vons was notified of the incident on Friday by the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department. All packages with the same lot number--538049--were immediately taken from the shelves from all 173 stores in Southern and Central California, as well as six Vons markets in Las Vegas.

Each package is stamped with a Feb. 25 expiration date.

After the girl, Traci Shellenberger of Camarillo, took a couple of bites from the cupcake and noticed a hook protruding from it, her mother notified the Sheriff’s Department, Dyer said. The girl was not injured.