7:42am Friday 16th May 2008
By Pat Smith
A BROMSGROVE woman said she was violently sick after discovering part of a human nail in an Asda chicken ready meal.
Jane Wilson reported the find to one of the managers at the town centre store, but said his attitude so upset her that she decided to report the incident to Trading Standards.
Mrs Wilson said: "I was half way through the meal when I discovered part of a nail. What made me sick was that I thought I might have eaten the other half because I had felt something hard like a chicken bone in my mouth a bit earlier."
The 40-year-old grandmother, from Crabtree Lane, who is a foot care specialist, said she was almost 100 per cent sure it was a human finger or thumb nail.
She added: "All the reaction I got from Asda was that it wasn't their responsibility - that they weren't liable. The manager asked me to leave it with him so that he could send it away for analysis, and offered me £5 in compensation, but I felt I had been insulted and didn't believe my complaint would be dealt with properly.
"A simple apology and a more sympathetic attitude would have improved matters. I'll never shop at Asda again," she added.
Now Bromsgrove District Council's environmental health department is investigating the complaint.
Environmental health officer, Ian Keagle said: "We are investigating the complaint by Mrs Wilson of an alleged finger nail in a frozen meal." He said eventually the company would also be able to examine it.
A spokesman for Asda said: "We sell over 13,000 chicken meals a week at Asda stores and as the pie making process is automated, with no human contact, it is very unlikely that this is a nail.
"We have already apologised to Mrs Watson and are more than happy to do this again. We will be doing a full investigation when we receive the foreign body."
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