A CUSTOMER at Aldi fears what else could be hiding in his food after claiming he chomped on a rusty staple hiding in piece of chicken.

Lei Burton-Aherne went to the Swindon Aldi on Shaw Road and picked up a masala and nigella seed chicken escalope from the superstore.

But according to him, the gourmet chicken contained what he described as a nasty surprise.

He told the Adver: “I had this big crunch when I bit down on it really hard. My first thought was I had chipped my tooth, then I picked it out and it was an old rusty staple.

“My tooth luckily was in one piece – my dental health saved me.

“A staple shouldn’t be anywhere near food, how that’s got there I really don’t know

"I’m just glad it wasn’t given to a little kid, it would have been a completely different story."

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Devastated but still hungry Lei ditched the rest of the chicken in the bin and headed to his nearest McDonald’s instead.

He added: “I’ve always been an advocate for Aldi because it always has some good stuff. I did some research and there’s quite a shocking number of things found in products in all the supermarkets, unfortunately it seems to happen to pretty much everyone.

“Every meal I’ve eaten since I’ve cut it into smaller chunks just so I know there isn’t anything in it.”

Aldi was confident the staple didn't originate from its supply chain.

A spokesperson said: “This product passes through an extremely sensitive metal detector before and after being packaged, making it impossible for this staple to have been in the product when it went on sale.

“We have spoken to Mr Burton-Aherne to try to understand how this object could have ended up in his meal.”

Metal has been found inside food sold by several big supermarkets in recent years.

The Food Standards Agency recalled chicken and bacon wraps at Aldi, Co-op and Morrisons stores across the country in 2017 after mental splinters were found inside them.

In June 2018 pastry products were recalled by supermarkets on the advice of the Addo Food Group which warned up to 59 products contained pieces of metal.