A cardiac patient at an Adelaide hospital says she was lucky not to swallow a piece of glass she was served in her evening meal.

Key points: Patricia Smith found the glass on her second night at the hospital

Patricia Smith found the glass on her second night at the hospital She says staff did not recall meals sent to other patients following the incident

She says staff did not recall meals sent to other patients following the incident State Labor described the incident as concerning

Munno Para resident Patricia Smith has urged other patients to bring their own meals to the Lyell McEwin Hospital after find the glass in her curry on April 28.

"I took one piece of potato, one little piece of meat and put it in my mouth and ate it — it was horrible," the 73-year-old said.

"Then took another piece and put it in my mouth and I had this lump in my mouth.

"I spat it out and it was a piece of glass — it wasn't a slither of glass, it wasn't a small piece of glass, it was a decent-size piece of glass.

"I was in shock. I'm in a hospital, in a cardiac ward. I shouldn't have glass in my meal."

She said a nurse came to see her and asked her to put it in a specimen container, which she did, before kitchen staff came to her room to inspect it.

"They took the specimen jar and I questioned it," she said.

"She never said, 'we're working on this, we're going to sort it out, we're really sorry' … so I waited and I waited. Five hours I waited for answers."

Mrs Smith said it was at that point, she threatened to go to the media, which prompted an apology from hospital staff.

"I said, 'I'm lucky I found it and I spat it out before I swallowed it'," she said.

She said the hospital's catering manager told her 50 of the same meals went out to other patients, before Ms Smith asked if they had been recalled.

"He said, 'oh no, I don't see the need to recall them, I've never had this happen before'," she said.

"Then he started lecturing me about food safety and quality."

She said she asked staff if she could keep the piece of glass, but the request was denied.

'This needs to be urgently addressed', Opposition says

SA Health is yet to comment on the incident at Lyell McEwin Hospital. ( ABC News: Tony Hill )

SA Opposition health spokesman Chris Picton said Mrs Smith's story was concerning.

"The safety of our patients at our hospitals is our ultimate concern — we want to make sure the meals provided to patients are safe, are of high quality," he said.

"Obviously that should be the case when anyone is getting a meal, but particularly hospital patients."

He said Lyell McEwin Hospital staff took a "risk" by deciding not to recall meals sent to other patients once Mrs Smith informed them she found a piece of glass in hers.

"This is very concerning that there are clearly failures of quality control of the meals here at Lyell McEwin," he said.

"This needs to be urgently addressed so we don't see other incidents of this happening again."

SA Health apologised to Ms Smith for the incident, and said it was investigating what the foreign object was and where it came from.

"I want to apologise to Ms Smith for this unfortunate event," director of nursing Andrew McGill said.

"We take this matter very seriously. We're still investigating what the foreign object was."

He said once the object was discovered, meals that had not already been sent from the kitchen were held, and alternatives provided.