TWO companies have launched an investigation after a taxi driver found a shard of glass or hard plastic in a pot of natural yogurt he was tucking into for his lunch.

TV chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage business near Axminster and its yogurt supplier, Brown Cow Organics, of Pilton, near Shepton Mallet, are taking action after Rafal Kujawa, 34, from Melksham bought the £2.80 pot of River Cottage yogurt from the V&P Collins farm shop at Bromham on Friday (Feb 15).

His two children, Natasha, eight, and Alexander, five, were given some of it for tea and he took the rest of it to work the next day.

Mr Kujawa said: “I was eating it when I suddenly felt something in my mouth. It felt like a £2 coin.

“I immediately spat it back into the pot. I found it was a shard of hard plastic or glass.

“The jar was not broken so it must have got there at the factory where it was made.

“I’m not happy about it. It’s dangerous for customers and for children. They should check properly.

“I have complained to the River Cottage company and won’t be buying any of their products again.”

The River Cottage brand is used for a number of ventures by TV chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, whose River Cottage farm is based near Axminster in east Devon.

The 475g pot of natural organic yogurt is supplied to the company by Brown Cow Organics, of Perridge Farm, Pilton. Both firms have now launched an investigation into the incident.

Lucy Lomas, a spokesman for River Cottage, said: “We are taking this very seriously and are in close communication with our partner Brown Cow Organics who make the River Cottage yogurt for us.

“Brown Cow Organics have completed a full traceability on the batch number of the yogurt; no issues have been found during production.

“Once the items in question have been forwarded to them they can make further inspections.

“They are currently liaising with their local environmental health department and will be fully co-operating with any investigations.”

One of Brown Cow Organics’ staff said they would investigate the incident and asked Mr Kujawa to post the shard of plastic back to them.

“If you post it back to us, we will start an investigation and feedback to our

manager,” the member of staff said.

“Then we will see what we are going to do about it.”

Caroline Jones, the manager of the V&P Collins farm shop, said: “We have been selling the River Cottage yogurt for years and we’ve never had any complaints from our customers.”