Woman ill after eating veggie pasty

The resident, who became ill from eating meat owing to a dietary condition, bought a pack of four frozen Freshbake cheese and onion pasties from the Co-op store in Lancing. She ate one and was immediately suspicious that it contained meat.

She complained to the company, Freshbake Foods Ltd in Salford, Manchester, but was assured that any subsequent purchase of the pasties would not be wrongly labelled. But when she bought more pasties three months later, she again found they contained meat.

The woman reported it to West Sussex trading standards service and samples were sent for analysis. They were found to contain a filling similar to that of a Cornish pasty, with meat and vegetables.

Following a joint investigation by West Sussex and Northamp-tonshire trading standards services, Freshbake pleaded guilty to offences in both locations under the Food Safety Act.

The company was fined 9,500 last Wednesday, with 787 costs, by Manchester city magistrates.

Head of West Sussex trading standards, Patrick Bligh-Chessman said: "In this instance, it is a clear case of the producer taking insufficient precautions when packing the food to put the correct product in the right box.

"In the case of vegetarian food, this could have disastrous repercussions for someone who must not eat meat for medical reasons."