ENVIRONMENTAL Health officers were called in to analyse an Andover family’s Easter dinner after it was alleged that a worm was found in the chicken.

Kimberley Allen, of Tiberius Road, has spoken about the moment she pulled what she believed to be a worm from her mouth midway through her Easter Sunday dinner.

The 24-year-old had prepared a roast dinner for her and her mum Susan when they made the discovery.

Miss Allen, who bought the free range chicken from the Tesco store on River Way by home delivery, said: “I was enjoying the meal when suddenly I felt this thing in my mouth. I pulled it out and was violently sick.”

The former commis chef immediately told her mum to stop eating, too.

Miss Allen said: “It’s completely put me off meat.

“I’m not a squeamish person, it’s the fact that it was a foreign body, I wasn’t expecting it.”

The complaint item was taken for investigation on Thursday 9 April.

A spokesman from Test Valley Borough Council’s Environmental Health department said that the item had been analysed and it was found to be a chicken’s trachea which had failed to be removed at the mechanical processing plant.

After hearing the news Kimberley added: “It’s still not very nice though, I’m still not happy that I had to pull it out of my mouth.

“I was told that the manufacturers have said that the people responsible for that part of the process will be retrained.

“I am happy to find out it wasn’t a worm, and I’m glad they are doing their bit to prevent it from happening again.”

A Tesco spokesperson said: “We set ourselves the highest standards for the quality of our food.

“Our suppliers have robust procedures in place to remove specified parts of the chicken that customers don’t eat so instances like this are extremely rare. We apologise for any distress this may have caused.”