Teenager finds '˜sharp piece of plastic' in Sainsbury's chicken

Emily Pooley, 17, of Tram Road, Rye, was preparing to cook a chicken curry for three other family members on Wednesday evening (February 7) when she discovered the piece of plastic inside one of four chicken breasts she had bought from the Sainsbury’s Local at Hastings Station Plaza earlier the same day.

She said: “I was cutting up the final piece of chicken and that’s when I noticed it.

“I hadn’t noticed anything in the other three breasts and I think they were fine.

“I thought the piece of plastic was probably from the packaging so I had a look at it but I couldn’t see anything that had snapped off.

“You hear stories of people chucking food on the floor so I wanted to know how it managed to get in there.”

Emily reported the incident to Sainsbury’s who said the piece of plastic may have got lodged in the chicken breast whilst it was at the factory.
Emily added: “I never really think to look through the chicken and it is lucky I was cutting it up.

“Imagine if I was making a chicken casserole or something. I could have cooked it without noticing and then handed it to my 11-year-old nephew to eat.
“It has certainly made me more cautious as I now find myself looking through bits of meat when I’m cooking.”

Sainsbury’s offered Emily a £19 voucher as a way of apologising for the incident but the teenager was not pleased by the offer.

She added: “Originally, I wanted them to offer me a refund for the packet of chicken that cost about £6.

“They said I would have to go back to the store but it is quite a long distance from my house so I said I couldn’t.

“In the end, I accepted the voucher because otherwise I wouldn’t have got anything in the way of an apology.

“I just think they could have told me what they were doing to improve this matter. They just took some details off me and that was that.”

A Sainsbury’s spokesperson said, “We’ve apologised to Emily and are investigating with our supplier.”