A dad who thought he was licking ketchup from the wrapper of his McDonald's burger was horrified to discover it was actually human blood.

Lewis Laurence had taken his family to the branch in Minster, near Ramsgate, for lunch when he was served up the grim relish with his meal.

The 35-year-old says the inside of three of the wrappings, which were pressed against triple cheeseburgers, had red marks splattered on them.

McDonald's bosses have since apologised to Mr Laurence and confirmed the blood came from an employee who had cut their finger.

The dad-of-three was left so worried about consuming it, he contacted healthcare professionals for advice.

“It makes me feel awful and I have been very concerned ever since,” he told KentOnline.

Mr Laurence visited the drive-thru at the Laundry Road site at lunchtime on July 25 where he bought meals home for himself, his girlfriend, his son and two daughters.

“I opened the wrapper of my triple cheeseburger and I thought it was ketchup on the inside,” he said.

“I thought it was a droplet of sauce, so I licked it off.

“As my children and girlfriend opened their wrappers, we noticed it was not ketchup but it was blood – as the colour was different to the ketchup next to it.

“On my burger, there was a droplet of blood inside the wrapper and against the food.

“My girlfriend had another dollop of blood inside which was also wrapped against the burger.

“There was another burger with blood on the wrapper, which was my five-year-old son’s.”

Following the shocking discovery, Mr Laurence binned all of the food fearing other items could be contaminated.

The engineering student returned to the McDonald’s branch on the same day and gave them the splattered wrappers as proof.

But they did not confirm at the time it was human blood.

“They told me it would be sent to a lab to be tested,” he added.

Mr Laurence says it was not confirmed that it was human blood until more than four weeks later.

An email sent from McDonald’s customer services to Mr Laurence on August 24 says: “It’s absolutely unacceptable that you found traces of blood on the packaging of the cheeseburger. Please accept our apologies.

“Please be assured we take this matter very seriously and have investigated this matter further with our restaurant team and Hygiene and Safety team.

“Having spoken to the restaurant, we have found out just before your visit a staff member received a small cut.

“This was treated immediately but it seems that some blood got onto the cheeseburger packaging before it was noticed.

“This is unacceptable and you should not have been served a product that did not meet the quality standards you rightly expect.”

They added: “We value customer feedback and I have passed your comment to the management team at the restaurant to use as part of our regular reviews.

“I can understand this incident must have spoilt your meal and I hope you will not be deterred from future visits to our restaurants.

“With this in mind, please accept our apologies and to make up for this experience, we will send you an email shortly with some vouchers as a gesture of our goodwill.”

However, Mr Laurence said: “They say it was dealt with promptly but it was not as there was blood over three different wrappers. I also explained I had ingested the blood.”

He was sent three £10 vouchers following the ordeal but has refused to accept them and believes McDonald’s took too long to investigate his complaint.

“It makes me feel awful and I have been very concerned ever since,” he said.

“I spoke with a doctor and they advised me if there was any contamination in the blood, it should have been dissolved in the stomach acid. But that does not put my mind at ease.

“I have been really concerned and it has been a real ordeal. It was only confirmed last week.”

A McDonald’s spokesperson said: “We would like to apologise to the customer for this incident.

“Food safety is of the utmost importance to us and we place great emphasis on quality control, following rigorous standards to avoid any imperfections.

“As soon as this was brought to our attention all relevant actions, including sanitising the area, were completed in-store.

“We can confirm the customer has been in touch with our Customer Services team to help find a resolution.”