A DOG owner was shocked to find a piece of plastic in a tin of dog food he was about to give his 11-month-old Staffordshire bull terrier.

James Pennington, 33, was mixing the tin of Butcher’s Tripe dog food with biscuits for his dog, Marley, when he noticed the black plastic, around the size of a five pence piece.

Mr Pennington, from Colne, who had bought the tin from Tesco in Burnley, returned the food to Butcher’s Pet Care who said that it had come from an oesophagus tie used during the slaughter process, which should have been removed at source before it was sent to a Butcher’s factory.

“It was lucky I found the item while mixing the food,” said Mr Pennington, who got Marley from the RSPCA. “It could have caused a lot of damage.

“You don’t expect to find things like this in dog food.

"Butcher’s have sent me a £10 voucher, but it could have cost me a lot more had Marley eaten the plastic.

“I will keep using Butcher’s dog food but things like this shouldn’t happen.”

A spokesman for Butcher’s Pet Care, based in Northampton, said: “We take any customer complaint seriously.

“We have been in contact with Mr Pennington and to our knowledge had satisfied his query.

“We are strictly regulated by EU Animal By-Products Regulations 2009, via the Animal By-Product (England) Regulations 2011 and the FEDIAF Guide to Good Practice for the Manufacture of Safe Pet Foods, conforming to all the standards set out within them.

“Unfortunately as with all supply chains and processes things can and do go wrong despite our best efforts to prevent such occurrences.

“And can only apologise for this incident.”

Tesco declined to comment on the incident.