The unfortunate event took place in the city of Gold Coast on the east coast of Australia. A boy named Dustin was happily playing at home while his 36-year-old mother, who works as a baker, was preparing a birthday cake for the son of a customer.
In an unguarded moment, the child pulled out a tube with shiny powder from the drawer and removed the lid with the help of his teeth. “Within a few seconds, he (Dustin) pulled it down, and then inhaled and swallowed some of the contents at the same time,” the boy’s mother confirmed, according to News.com.au.
Hoch started coughing, breathing hard, until he started suffocating. “His body was thrashing, his eyes were rolling and he was unresponsive. I slapped his cheeks, called his name, but he wouldn’t open his eyes. It was scary,” the mother said.
A metallic cake dust has been recalled nationwide following an incident that left a Queensland toddler in an induced coma.
Dustin Wildman was rushed to the hospital earlier this month after inhaling the dust, which turned into a paste in his lungs.
The cake decoration product by… pic.twitter.com/eNcWUDY24y
— 10 News Queensland (@10NewsQLD) May 19, 2026
The frightened parents then alerted the emergency services, which took the toddler to a children’s hospital in Brisbane. At the clinic, the mother and father watched helplessly as the medical staff connected their child to machines before taking the boy to surgery to flush out his lungs with saline.
“The doctors saw that a lot of glittering powder was coming out of it. And it floated on the liquid, so it was clear that it would not dissolve in water, and therefore that it would not dissolve in blood either,” said the boy’s mother.
“It was difficult for everyone. The doctors talked about a rare case that they had not seen before,” she added, adding that the decorative powder contained zinc and copper according to the test. Even as an experienced baker, she was completely unaware that the product posed a risk.
The manufacturer is withdrawing the product
The composition of the powder was not stated on the label of the tube, but there was a warning that the product is intended for decorating removable parts of cakes, the ABC server wrote.
Meanwhile, Dustin is recovering, but doctors still have to feed him through a stomach tube and treat him with asthma therapy. However, they expect the damage to the boy’s lungs to be permanent.
In response to the accident, the Australian Consumer Protection Agency (ACCC) ordered the withdrawal of the dangerous product from sale. At the same time, he urged people to seek medical help immediately if they inhale or swallow the powder.
