California woman buys Nestlé Toll House cookie dough. Then she bites down and immediately knows something is very wrong: ‘a thumbtack’

A TikTok creator who goes by Natalie (@natalie.valenzuel) says she found a metal thumbtack inside a tub of Nestlé Toll House chocolate chip cookie dough, only noticing it after she bit down.

In the video, as you can see below, she says she assumed the object was a peice of chocolate before realizing that it wasn’t edible at all. “I bit it, thinking it was a chocolate chip, but no, it was a thumbtack.”

The company’s TikTok page reached out via the comments to write: “We truly appreciate you taking the time to report this to us with your call last month Natalie, and if you have any future questions or concerns, we’re here to help!”

It would not be the first time Toll House dough has carried something it shouldn’t. According to an FDA notice, Nestlé USA recalled two batches of its Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough “break and bake” bars in August 2023 over the possible presence of wood fragments, with no injuries reported. 

Months earlier, the company recalled its Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough with Fudge Filling over possible white plastic pieces, the FDA confirmed, followed weeks later by a separate recall of Edible Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough tubs over possible soft plastic film.

In the comments, some viewers urged to stop buying Nestlé products, with a few saying they would switch to other brands. “Stop buying from Nestle!” wrote one user, while another added: “Sue them.” 

Someone also questioned if the grievance was genuine and not something posted to garner traction. Another user claimed Nestlé will compensate by sending a box of products. “Nestle will send you a bunch of free stuff,” they wrote. “My mom found a rock in her peanuts and they sent her a huge box of stuff.”

It’s worth highlighting that foreign objects in packaged food are more common than many shoppers assume. A Trace One analysis of FDA data from 2021 through 2025 found that foreign-object contamination accounts for 10.8 percent of food recalls, trailing allergen mislabeling at 45.2 percent and bacterial contamination at 22.6 percent.

Common culprits, CBS News reported, include plastic shed from conveyor belts, not to mention wood from shipping pallets, and metal shavings from machinery, along with rocks, sticks, and insects that travel from field to factory.

As of publication, neither Nestlé nor regulators have linked the reported thumbtack to any active recall. It is advised that in the event of finding a foreign object in packaged food, consumers should hold on to the packaging or the receipt so the manufacturer can trace the batch.