I just about croaked as I took bite out of frog

HAVING a frog in the throat took on a whole new meaning for a city bank worker when she tucked into a pre-packed salad.

Kate Dunlop, 26, spat out the first forkful of her Co-op Crunchy Mix because it had a strange taste - and found a dead frog nestled among the leaves.

Ms Dunlop, a personal assistant at Lloyds TSB, bought the salad from the Scotmid store near her home on Leith Walk.

She said she was worried she could have been made ill from chewing on the frog.

She said: "We had just bought the salad and had taken it straight home for dinner. I put it in a big bowl and my husband, Matt, and I served it on to our plates.

"Matt hadn't started eating his, but as soon as I took the first bite of my meal I knew it didn't taste right.

"I spat it out on to my plate and saw the frog in what had come out of my mouth. I was absolutely horrified and so traumatised."

She added: "It really scared me that it could have made me ill. I was saying to my husband all night that my tongue felt tingly, but I think it was probably just me imagining it."

The couple phoned Scotmid's supplier, the Co-op Retail Trading Group, who told them they would send her a container to return the frog to them along with the original packaging. The Co-op is now carrying out an investigation.

The frog, which Ms Dunlop bought on Thursday evening, is about the size of a postage stamp and is now in the Dunlops' freezer until the container arrives from Scotmid.

She said: "I don't want any great gesture of compensation or anything - I just want to make sure that there are never frogs in anyone else's salad.

"When I phoned up they did say sorry, but they were quite matter of fact about it.

"Every time I shut my eyes I just see an image of that little frog. I don't think I'll be eating salad again for a long time."

Malcolm Brown, spokesman for Scotmid, said: "We are treating this very seriously indeed. We have asked our supplier to investigate their processes, going back to the point of supply.

"We would like to apologise unreservedly to the customer. We will be writing to her and will keep her up-to-date with the investigation."

A spokesman for The Co-operative Group said: "We take all reports of this nature seriously. The customer relations team are in contact with the customer and are investigating the matter."

Experts at Edinburgh Zoo were unable to identify the species of frog from a photograph.

A spokeswoman said: "Our experts have looked at the picture and said it is very hard to identify, as it is an infant and, obviously, is dead. However they said it did not look like any common or garden British frog, and suggested it came from somewhere in Europe."

She said experts had offered to take a closer look at the frog if it was taken in to the zoo.

The incident is the second in Scotland in the past two weeks, after it was reported an office worker found a live frog in a salad he bought from a Somerfield store in Lanarkshire.

Vet bolts back to shop after surprise naan find

A VET who bought a naan bread from a city supermarket found he had been given the makings of a chicken bolt-i.

Mojtaba Hadian, 35, of Forrest Road, went to Tesco in Nicolson Street for a garlic and coriander side dish.

But when he took the meal back to his office, he was shocked to find a large bolt inside the air-tight package.

He took the meal back to the store, where he was given a replacement naan.

The 35-year-old Iranian said: "I didn't notice when I bought it, but then I got back to my office, took it out of my fridge at lunchtime and heard this huge sound when I placed it on my desk.

"I was looking around to see what could possibly have made that sound, then I peered inside the packaging and saw this huge bolt. I couldn't believe it.

"I took it back to the store and received a refund of a new naan.

When I got the new one I opened it very carefully."

A Tesco spokesman said: "We'd like to apologise and we will look into this with the supplier."