A COMPANY has been fined £1,000 after a metal bolt was found in a slice of black pudding due to be served to police officers.Morpro Ltd appeared before Ipswich Magistrates and pleaded guilty to one offence under Section 14 of the Food Safety Act 1990 for selling food ''not of the substance demanded by the purchaser".

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A COMPANY has been fined £1,000 after a metal bolt was found in a slice of black pudding due to be served to police officers.

Morpro Ltd appeared before Ipswich Magistrates and pleaded guilty to one offence under Section 14 of the Food Safety Act 1990 for selling food ''not of the substance demanded by the purchaser".

The case arose after a chef working for Suffolk County Catering discovered the bolt while preparing food and contacted Suffolk Coastal District Council's food and safety team, which traced the black pudding to the Liverpool-based company.

Patricia O'Brien, the council's cabinet member for health and safety, said: "Our investigations revealed that the black pudding had gone through an automatic slicing machine which, for health and safety reasons, had been fitted with a Perspex guard over the cutting blade.

"This guard had identical bolts to the one found in the black pudding, three of these bolts were missing. It was further revealed that the metal detector, which the company had installed at the end of the production line in order to prevent any contaminated product from leaving the factory, was faulty.

"Our food safety team instigated legal proceedings because they considered that Morpro Ltd had not taken reasonable precautions to avoid contamination of its product."