A California restaurant accidentally served a toddler wine instead of apple juice — landing her in a hospital with a dangerously high blood alcohol level, according to her parents.
Noemi Valencia and her partner were dining with their 2-year-old daughter at the Fujiyama Japanese Restaurant in Salinas Saturday evening when the girl suddenly got wobbly, she told KSBW 8.
“She was swaying, she was falling over, she was leaning on walls, she couldn’t hold her head up, she was slurring her words,” Valencia said.
She peeked inside the little girl’s juice cup — which had been served with a lid — then gave the brownish-red liquid a sniff and quickly determined it was alcohol, she said.
The frightened parents rushed the tipsy tot to an emergency room, where they learned her blood alcohol was .12 — nearly twice the legal driving limit for adults.
A manager at the eatery said a server had inadvertently given the child house-made cooking wine that was mislabeled “apple juice,” according to the station.
After the stunning dinner party foul, Valencia warned other parents to “taste what’s served to your kids.”
She also demanded that Fujiyama be more diligent about labeling and storing food and beverages.
“Take proper precautions on how you store things and label things properly so that this doesn’t happen to anybody else,” she said.
The 2-year-old has since recovered, and police are looking into the incident, along with state officials, the station reported.
“The California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control is aware of the reports and is working with local authorities to investigate,” the agency said.
