Dog food contaminated with metal and plastic Published duration 20 December 2012

image caption The contamination was described as a "total one-off" by the manufacturers

A dog food company has apologised after a bag of dry food was found to be contaminated with metal and plastic.

Kelly Andrew, from Camborne, Cornwall, bought a bag of Adult Richa from her local Poundstretcher and fed it to her dogs - none fell ill.

Manufacturer Welham Estates Limited said it most likely happened when a metal detector may have been briefly turned off, affecting up to 20 bags.

Poundstretcher said it took the matter seriously and removed it from shelves.

Local Trading Standards officers are investigating the incident.

'Total one-off'

Mrs Andrew, from Camborne, said: "They tucked right in because it was the morning feed, it wasn't until I poured it into a container that I could see the bits reflecting in the light. It's awful and completely unacceptable."

She said she returned to the shop with a sample to show the manager who said the stock would be removed from the shelves.

image caption Kelly Andrew's four dogs ate the food before she discovered it was contaminated

Mrs Andrew said: "My main and only concern is money is tight and Christmas is coming up and there are [dog owners] thinking 'Wow, cheap dog food', so that's the time pets will be getting sick."

Mrs Andrew said she had contacted Welham Estates eight times and was yet to receive a response although sales director, Mike Dawson, said he would make contact and offer her some products by way of compensation.

He said the contamination was a "total one-off" and that it may have come from the tankers which transport meat to the premises.

He said: "Once in our premises we have metal detectors and screens and they've been updating and we think there's been a stray got through during a 15-minute upgrade.

"The biscuit is made up of 80% cereal and 20% meat, so in a worse case scenario out of 100 bags there might be 20 [contaminated], but because we think it's during the upgrade we can isolate it down to 10."

Poundstretcher company secretary Martin Collinson said: "Any quality issues regarding products are important, particularly so when they involve food of any sort.