A dad who found a tooth in his Fray Bentos pie has received a £25 voucher from the company and an apology after it was confirmed the chomper was from a cow.

Adam Young, from Clyde Street, Sheerness, felt something hard in his mouth while he was tucking into his meal last month.

The 36-year-old said: "It was like crunching a stone. But when I spat it out onto my plate I could see it was a tooth.

"The first thing I did was to double-check my own teeth. But they were all intact.

"I looked on the internet and thought it might have come from a young cow. I certainly didn't expect to find anything like that in my pie."

Adam had brought the minced beef and onion pie from his nearby corner shop.

After making the grim discovery on July 6, he emailed Fray Bentos and the firm asked him to send the offending molar to it for testing

Adam, who has been unable to work since being hit by a car in Sittingbourne 22 years ago, said: "I know some people didn't believe me when the story was first published.

"But when I got the confirmation letter yesterday morning explaining that it was a piece of cow's tooth I knew I wasn't exaggerating.

"I'm glad they've taken accountability and been honest.

"They could have lied and said they never received the tooth when I sent it off but they didn't.

"I just wanted to raise awareness about this as it has happened to someone else before and if a kid ate that tooth and swallowed it the outcome could have been a lot worse."

Fray Bentos is part of the Baxters Food Group. In April, it had to recall Fray Bentos Just Chicken pies because they may have contained small pieces of plastic.

And in 2012, a Scottish woman also reported finding a tooth in a Fray Bentos minced meat pie.

In the letter sent to Mr Young, which also included £25 worth of Fray Bentos and Baxters Food Group vouchers, the company said: "Please accept our sincere apologies for the inconvenience this has caused.

"The sample you returned was examined by our operational and technical teams upon receipt.

"It has been confirmed as being a piece of a cow's tooth.

"All quality checks have been verified from the production without any issues and all samples taken from the production were found to be satisfactory on taste panel.

"Objects such as pieces of bone and teeth are natural material from meat manufacture that can occasionally make their way into finished product.

"To mitigate this, Baxters has invested in end of line inspection systems, however, due to the nature of the material, it is apparent that on this occasion the piece you found has managed to get through this screening process.

"Please accept our sincere apologies for any inconvenience you may have experienced, we do hope that you will continue to remain a valued customer."

Adam, a part-time weatherman, who runs the Swale Weather website, said he didn't expect the vouchers.

He added: "Receiving the letter with the confirmation made me feel quite sick.

"My girlfriend might use the vouchers but I doubt I will.

"I don't feel drawn back to Fray Bentos products after all this – I'll stick to my salads."