A mum was left shocked after finding a foreign object in a ham of ham from Aldi.
The mum, who uses the £1.09 ham to make sandwiches for her son, was 'gobsmacked' when she noticed a small piece of blue plastic in more than one slice and was worried she had accidentally fed it to her child.
She also added that she fed some of the deli meat to her dog and was upset at the thought of the treat containing plastic.
The packet of Ashfield 'Wafer Thin Smoked Ham' cost £1.09 and is branded as a family pack.
Since posting pictures in an Aldi UK Shoppers Facebook group it's gathered more than 210 comments from concerned parents and consumers who have offered up some explanations for the plastic.
The original post said: "Was really gobsmacked yesterday when I went to make my son a ham sandwich!
"I always buy this ham for him and my animals to eat, so you can imagine my shock when I found small pieces of blue plastic through a good few pieces!!
"And that’s the ones I saw!! I don’t wanna think if my dogs had eaten any. So disappointed! Please be vigilant everyone."
One helpful commenter said: "It’s more than likely a bit of glove.
"Food handlers are required to wear blue so as it can be identified in the event it becomes a foreign object.
"I know it’s no use to you but thought I would put an explanation behind it."
Another person who says they used to work for a company producing meat products said:"Unfortunately this can happen with any company.
"I used to work for a company producing meat products for lots of retailers and used to deal with complaints.
"Whilst all precautions are taken sometimes a machine will malfunction or like in your case someone’s glove has got ripped and a small piece has ended up in the packet and whilst QC should spot it things can slip through.
"If you take it back you’ll get a refund. It’s not even likely that it affected the whole batch just an unfortunate one-off."
Food grade plastics are specifically manufactured to meet certain standards of purity, which means they’re made without the use of dyes or any recycled materials that could pose a risk to human health.
If this is food-grade plastic then it's been designed to withstand any acidity from the food and won't have leaked into the rest of the product.
How would you feel if this happened to you? Let us know in the comments section.
There were a number of comments to reassure the Mum and one person said: "It's just some packaging from the manufacturer.
"It won't be harmful at all but obviously not nice. If you pop into the store they will exchange for you.
"It will happen with every manufacturer at some point or other, just one of them unfortunate things"
Other shoppers were not bothered one bit by the plastic and said: "I'd personally just pick it out and eat the rest but then again I'm probably more of a pig than the creature it originally came from. Eat anything me"
The Food Standards Agency says that if you find a foreign object in your food and believe it could pose a food safety or health risk, you can report it to them.
Aldi UK has been approached by the Daily Record and has said they are looking into the incident.
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