‘Are you serious?': Bondi woman in drama over $10 block of cheese

News.com.au

28-05-2025

A pregnant Bondi mother's late-night craving for cheddar and crackers has spiralled into a public spat with the prestigious Australian cheesemaker after she took her gripe to social media.
Julia Sakr was after a simple indulgence when she picked up a $10 block of gourmet Maffra Cheese from a grocery store in Sydney's affluent eastern suburbs.
But what she claims to have found inside has turned into an ordeal after she complained to the company and was dissatisfied with the response.
'I'm preggers and I had a hankering for cheddar cheese and crackers and I saw this gourmet piece of cheese, and I was like, 'you know what, hell yeah',' she shared in a now-viral video.
However, after returning home, she decided to tuck into the savory snack – and claimed things quickly went awry.
'It's night, I open it up and I see in the top right hand corner there is like a little shadowy bit in the cheese,' she said.
Thinking 'that's strange', Ms Sakr explained she 'broke the top piece' off and discovered a metal bolt, 'like something from a toolbox'.
Shocked Ms Sakr said she immediately threw the cheese in the bin, fearing it may be contaminated – adding she decided to err on the side of caution as she's pregnant.
She also noted it was late, and had a trip to Cairns looming the next morning, so instead decided to email the company rather than go back to the store.
In her email to Maffra Cheese, Ms Sakr said she not only reported the foreign object she had allegedly found in the block of cheddar, but also asked for a refund.
'I said, 'Hi there, I purchased your cheese and found a bolt in it. I'm glad I spotted it before chewing on it. How do I get a refund?''
She claimed she then received a reply the following day from the company who thanked her for the message and asked for the batch number from the label.
But having already thrown the cheese away and with her cleaners scheduled to come while she was out of state, Ms Sakr said she had no way to retrieve the serial number of her cheese.
'I was a bit p***ed off, to be honest,' she said. 'A customer tells you there's a bolt in your cheese, and that's the attitude?'
Ms Sakr said the company went on to dispute the claim entirely – saying the factory didn't use nuts or bolts like the one in Julia's photo, and that all products passed through a metal detector.
'I was like, are you seriously denying this?' she said. 'Why on earth would I contact you if this didn't happen?'
What Ms Sakr, who is the owner of orthopaedic dog bed company Barney Bed, then took to TikTok, to share the exchange where understandably the saga has divided Aussies.
While some agreed they would 'want my money back too', others argued the cheesemaker followed standard food safety protocol.
'The reason they asked for the batch number was to trace it – it's literally to protect other customers,' one person wrote.
'She didn't need to get defensive. They weren't accusing her of lying. That's just how these things are handled,' said another.
Ms Sakr has since told news.com.au that she has received a follow up email after the drama went viral.