Kebab shop owner who sold customer pizza with a BOLT in the crust ordered to pay £2,000 compensation

A kebab shop owner has been ordered to pay £2,000 compensation after selling a pizza with a bolt embedded in the crust.

Mehmet Gilgil, 25, pleaded guilty to selling food not of the 'substance or quality required' after an inch-long lump of metal was found baked into a pizza at Flames Kebabs in Romford, East London.

The bolt is believed to have come loose inside the oven and fallen into the pizza as it cooked.

Shoddy: Mehmet Gilgil pleaded guilty to selling food not of the 'substance or quality required' after an inch-long lump of metal was found baked into a pizza

Mr Gilgil was fined £1,000 and ordered to pay £750 in costs and a £100 victim surcharge for serving the pizza to an unsuspecting customer in December 2012.

Romford council’s cabinet member for Public Protection, Councillor Lesley Kelly said: 'Selling shoddy products of any kind is not acceptable and is particularly important when preparing food.'

Mr Kelly added: 'We will always prosecute and seek the highest possible fine to make sure that everyone maintains standards in their kitchens.'

'This was a cheap bolt that got someone an expensive fine and that should be a lesson to others.'

Standards: Councillor Lesley Kelly 'This was a cheap bolt that got someone an expensive fine and that should be a lesson to others'

There have been a number of incidents of foreign objects found in food in recent months.

In November a plumber claimed he had been left unable to eat anything after discovering a dead mouse inside a bag of Tesco frozen scampi.

Mohammed Ali, 37, said he could only stomach fruit juice after finding the dead rodent inside his packet of seafood.

He had poured the contents into a deep fat fryer for an afternoon snack, but then a couple of minutes later noticed something black floating in the hot oil.

Sickening: In November plumber Mohammed Ali claimed he had been left unable to eat anything after discovering a dead mouse inside a bag of Tesco frozen scampi

Mr Ali found the dead mouse inside a £3 bag of Tesco scampi. The 37-year-old claimed the incident left him unable to consume anything other than fruit juice

Fried: The dead mouse was in hot oil along with the scampi for around two minutes before Mr Ali noticed it

Mr Ali, from West Lothian in Scotland, said: ‘I stuck my hand in the bag and put it in - I was in a hurry.'

He says he spotted the dead mouse floating in the oil around two minutes later.

Earlier this year Tony Hinds, 27, found a human tooth embedded in a pork and chive sausage from Tesco’s Finest range.

Mr Hinds, from Queenborough in Kent, had planned to use them to make sausage rolls for his birthday party, but abandoned the plans when his fiancée removed the packaging and found the tooth stuck in the side of a sausage.

Shock: Earlier this year Tony Hinds found a human tooth embedded in a pork and chive sausage from Tesco’s Finest range. The supermarket initially offered only a £15 voucher as compensation

And only last weekend, a Pret A Manger customer in Manhattan, New York was shocked to discover a dead frog in her salad.

The Wall Street Journal employee had visited the branch on Sixth Avenue/47 Street to get what she assumed would be a regular Albacore Tuna Nicoise Salad.

But in addition to the tomatoes, tuna, egg and olives, there was an extra ingredient: the small amphibian, almost camouflaged among the salad leaves.

The manager of the branch has since apologised and given the customer a refund, plus a voucher for a free lunch.

The heavy fine kebab shop owner Mr Gilgil received for serving the bolt in his pizza is in stark contrast to the compensation Tesco offered Mr Hinds.

Tesco initially offered only an apology and a £15 voucher for what it insisted was a piece of bone.

A Wall Street Journal employee found a dead frog in a Tuna Nicoise Salad she bought from a branch of Pret A Manger on Sixth Avenue/47 Street

Finally, after Mr Hinds protested further, the supermarket acknowledged that the unwelcome discovery was a tooth and added another £10.

A Tesco spokesman said: ‘We are sorry for any upset. However, after a thorough investigation, we are confident the tooth was not inside the product when it arrived at the store.’

They added: ‘All products undergo robust testing during the manufacturing process, including metal detection. The object in question is part metal and, during supplier tests, it was easily picked up by the metal detector.’