What was meant to be a lazy Sunday treat turned into a nightmare for a McDonald's customer who claims he found a deep-fried moth in his Big Mac meal.
Luke Allinson visited the fast food giant’s drive-thru restaurant, where he ordered two medium meals.
On returning home with his wife Abigail and his mother-in-law, the doorman says he opened his order to find the dead moth lodged among his crispy fries.
Luke, 23, said: “Initially I thought it might have been a bit of burnt paper but then I looked more closely and I said ‘is that what I think it is?’
“It was quite clearly a moth which had obviously fallen into the fryer and got cooked along with the fries. I just couldn’t believe it.”
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| No Thanks: Luke Allinson and his wife Abigail say they won't be eating much McDonald's from now
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Luke took the food back to the restaurant and confronted the manager, reports the Hinckley Times.
But when he went to the counter he says he saw member of staff standing at the chip fryer swatting a clutch of circling moths with a tea towel.
He said at one point the towel was dropped onto the fries and merely picked back up with no concern for contamination or whether it had deposited a dead or stunned insect onto the food.
A dismayed Luke explained: “It was just unbelievable, no one seemed to be bothered at all and the manager really wasn’t very helpful.
"I said to him ‘I’m not being funny but this is disgusting - I’ve just found an insect in my fries’.
“To my amazement he asked me if I wanted another packet of fries.
"After seeing the assistant slapping at the moths with that tea towel though I told him I’d rather go hungry.
“I wasn’t offered a refund or even an apology and because I was seriously unhappy with the manager I was asked to leave.
"I was really angry actually. Surely if you are dealing with food you don’t want moths on your premises at all let alone flying around chips.
“We thought we’d have a bit of a lazy Sunday with a burger but it won’t happen again, I don’t eat McDonald’s very often anyway and I can’t see me going back any time soon.”
When The Hinckley Times contacted McDonald’s, a spokesman said: “We
apologise for Mr Allinson’s experience when visiting our restaurant.
"As soon as he raised his concern, the restaurant team apologised,
offered him replacement fries and a full refund then began an
investigation.
“The fryer was drained and no other foreign objects were found and
another moth was removed from the restaurant by an employee before it
entered any food preparation area.
“Food safety and quality are our highest priority and our restaurants
and our suppliers place great emphasis on quality control, following
rigorous standards in order to avoid imperfections in our products.”
