Mercedes Checkley has vowed to ditch meat altogether
A woman has told how she vomited and felt faint after finding a chicken foot inside her roast chicken.
Mercedes Checkley bought a seasoned bird from Lidl for £3.99 last Sunday and popped it in the oven for a roast dinner for herself and three friends.
But, when the 25-year-old removed it from the oven an hour and 45 minutes later, she discovered an entire chicken foot hiding inside the animal's body.
The sight left Checkley vomiting and feeling faint - and she has now vowed to ditch meat altogether.
Checkley, who works as a team leader in a care home and lives in Bedford, said, at first she "didn't even process it".
"My housemate heard me making a weird noise and she knew something was wrong," she explained.
"I think it was the shock. At first, it was disbelief and almost funny because I was shocked but then reality set in and I went very faint and was physically sick."
Checkley says she has barely eaten since and is "really put off meat".
"I am gutted because a roast dinner is my favourite meal and one of my safe meals as I have bowel disease so this incident has created a fear of meat and I'm quite limited to what I can eat as a result."
Checkley had finished a shift at work and offered to cook her housemate Amy, her boyfriend, and his best friend a roast for dinner.
Having put the roast into the oven still in the bag, as per the instructions, Checkley didn't notice the foot until she started carving the cooked bird.
She then almost fainted in the kitchen.
"The others ate the vegetables, roast potatoes, honey roast parsnips, pigs in blankets, cauliflower cheese, and Yorkshire puddings that I'd made to go with the chicken," Checkley recalled.
"I had a few parsnips and some cauliflower cheese but that was all I could stomach as I felt physically unwell.
"My body was shaky and I felt so faint that I couldn't stomach eating after being sick but had to force myself to eat a few mouthfuls as I hadn't eaten all day.
"I will absolutely never eat meat again. Every time I've been in my kitchen since it happened, I gag."
Checkley has since complained to Lidl and the chain has contacted the supplier of the chicken and has told her to expect a response in the next 10 days.
A spokesperson for Lidl said: "We were very sorry to hear of this matter, as it is never our intention for a customer to be dissatisfied in any way.
"We work very closely with our suppliers to ensure that the fresh meat we offer is of the highest possible quality for our customers."
The spokesperson went on to say the company is "disappointed that our expected high standards have not been met on this occasion".
The matter, the spokesperson said, had been escalated to Lidl's quality assurance department, and the supplier will be "fully investigated".
Related stories:
