A Chatham mum was horrified to discover her mouth full of metal staples after eating a packet of Mini Cheddars.

During a break on her night shift Belinda, a healthcare assistant, decided to have a snack.

But after biting into something hard, she was shocked to find more than eight metal staples in her mouth.

"I was like "what is that hard thing?" So I spat it out and it was staples," she said.

"There were eight of them, or more."

The 49-year-old was concerned the sharp pieces of metal could have seriously injured her son Shae, seven, if he had eaten the snack.

"They would have cut up his mouth and his teeth and his gums," she said.

"Luckily it was me."

Belinda, from Lordswood, bought the Mini Cheddars from Asda on Maidstone Road, in Chatham. The packet containing staples was the last in a multi-pack of six.

She has contacted manufacturer Jacob's, which has requested she sends in the faulty packet for inspection.

A Jacob's spokesman said: "We are in contact with the customer concerned and our teams are investigating.

"The quality of our products is of utmost importance and as such, all the products we bake are subject to rigorous quality checks before they reach our consumers.

"Our production lines incorporate state of the art metal detection equipment, specifically designed to prevent any foreign body from entering the baking process."