PA
An outraged mum has spoken of her horror as she found a SEWING NEEDLE in a Bernard Matthews turkey drummer she was cooking for her one-year-old daughter.
Law firm secretary Kelly Brettingham, 29, had grilled the drummer for her daughter Elise. As she served it up onto a plate, a two-inch-long needle dropped from the food.
Bernard Matthews say they believe the drummer had been "maliciously sabotaged".
Kelly bought the turkey products at her local Tesco store in Chesterfield, Derbyshire. The furious mum-of-two said she was 'horrified' someone would have put the needle into the food.
Kelly told The Sun:
"I was grilling the Drummers and was dishing them up on to Elise's plate when the pin dropped out. It must have been stuck in the breadcrumbs. I was so shocked because Elise could easily have eaten it. How incredibly dangerous and thoughtless to deliberately put a sewing needle into a Turkey Drummer, which is clearly going to get eaten."
She said the incident had put her off giving her children frozen food in the future, saying she could not trust it had not been tampered with.
Kelly, who also has a four-moth-old daughter, Hollie, said she was 'lucky' Elise had not swallowed the needle.
In a letter, Bernard Matthews said: "Close examination of the packaging did reveal two small aperture perforations close to a side seam.
"Although it is not possible to be absolutely certain, it is conceivable that a needle-like object may have been pushed through the bag and created the perforation.
"With this in mind it is our opinion that the most likely explanation in this case is that someone has maliciously sabotaged the bag you purchased.
"This may have happened some time after leaving our factory and up to the point that you purchased the Drummers."
The company offered Kelly and her husband Mark, 31, £25 worth of vouchers as compensation, but she said she was 'disgusted' and the thought of eating anything else from them made her 'stomach churn'.
What's the worst thing you've found in pre-prepped food?