British Tot Finds Lizard in Fast-Food

L O N D O N, July 21 -- Fast-food chain Burger King said todayit would be happy to investigate claims a Britishchild found a lizard in a portion of its French fries, just assoon as the reptile is produced.

“Should the customer be able to give us the lizard or showus the lizard, we can undertake an investigation, and we wouldbe very keen to do so,” a Burger King spokeswoman said.

BBC News reported that 2-year-old Toby Sharpe, fromHalifax in northern England, was eating his chips (fries) in the back ofhis aunt’s car when he found a deep fried lizard, screamed, andthrew up.

“It’s put him off Burger King for life,” the BBC quotedSharpe’s aunt, Adele Coulter, as saying.

The Burger King spokeswoman said a customer had reported thelizard find to its Halifax restaurant.

“If there is an allegation of a foreign body, we ask to seeit and we call in environmental health officers to work with usand run tests,” the spokeswoman said.

“In this instance, we haven’t been able to do those testsbecause we haven’t seen the lizard.”

The allegation comes after Britain’s Food Standards Agencysaid on Wednesday it would monitor the country’s food outletsmore closely after a study showed half of those checked brokesafety and hygiene regulations last year.