Experts are investigating after a pregnant mum cut her mouth on a three-inch darning needle lying in a Kit Kat bar.

Tracey Moorhouse's gum was speared when she bit into a Kit Kat Chunky, made at Nestl Rowntree's factory in York.

"I just couldn't believe it," she told the Evening Press today.

"It was embedded inside the wafer. I had taken two or three bites before I bit into it.

"My concern is about my little lad, who's three. He ate one the day before and if the needle had been in that one, he could easily have choked."

Tracey, from Thorne, near Doncaster, complained to Nestl on Saturday night and subsequently to Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council's environmental health department.

She handed the bar and needle to the council, which in turn has passed it on to the Public Analyst for investigation.

A council spokeswoman said: "We are currently investigating the complaint. We have been in contact with Nestl and City of York Council."

She said the authority would now be awaiting a report from the Public Analyst.

Nestl Rowntree said today it was very concerned by the incident, but it would not be able to speculate on the cause until it had been able to carry out its own investigation.

That could not happen until it had received the bar and needle back from the environmental health office, which could be several weeks.

Netto, which had sold the Kit Kat Chunky to Tracey, removed a whole batch of Chunkys from the shelves at its local store as a precautionary measure, but has no plans to remove the product from stores elsewhere.

Updated: 10:49 Wednesday, June 13, 2001