A GAINFORD mother has spoken of her horror after her nine-year-old son bit into a Greggs pasty to find what is believed to have been chunks of pallet wood inside.
Julie Dent visited the Barnard Castle bakery with her five children on August 21.
Her son, Henry Hardy, opted for a cheese and onion pasty but soon began to complain about the unpleasant filling.
Ms Dent said: “He sat down and started to eat the pasty and then all of a sudden he said I can’t eat it anymore because there is something hard.
“I said, ‘don’t be silly it’s a pasty’ and then he started spitting it out and I saw the chunks of wood. I was gobsmacked. I went straight over to the counter and told the staff.
“You don’t think your child is going to consume chunks of wood out of a cheese and onion pasty.”
Ms Dent gave the samples of wood to the store’s manager who told her that it would be sent off to be analysed.
Two weeks later, Ms Dent received a letter in the post from Greggs informing her that the evidence had been “lost in the post” .
The letter read: “I was disappointed to hear about the experience you had at our shop in Barnard Castle recently.
“I was really sorry to hear that your son found an item inside his cheese and onion pasty and to hear your
description of what you found.
“As a direct result of your feedback, we’ve contacted our food safety team who’ve looked into this for me. From the images provided of the item, we believe it could be a piece of pallet wood.
“Unfortunately the sample that the shop sent back to our bakery hasn’t been received and presumed lost in the post so we’re unable to investigate the item physically and confirm this.”
As a gesture of goodwill, Ms Dent and her family have been offered a £20 gift voucher to be used in any Greggs store.
Ms Dent said: “I don’t want the voucher. I think it is shameful really.
“I won’t be going back to any Greggs again. It is not acceptable. I am feeling very angry and annoyed that they can lose evidence like that. It seems so convenient.
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“What I am worried about is that he could have eaten some of it. He could have swallowed it, choked or broke his teeth. We don’t know where those pallets have been stored. Anything could have been on them. You don’t expect that to be found in the human food chain.”
Henry, who attends Ingleton Primary School, has also been put off visiting the bakery.
He said: “I was eating the pasty and enjoying it and then I bit on the hard bits. I don’t want to go to Greggs again.”
Ms Dent added: “You think your food is safe but now I look at things in a different light.”
