Woman finds live beetle in Pret sandwich

Pret a Manger boasts that it uses only the freshest of ingredients in its sandwiches - but customers would not expect their lunch to be alive.

Unfortunately for Sophy Khan, that is what she got when she bought a cheese salad sandwich at a branch in Victoria. Among the crunchy lettuce leaves and juicy tomato slices was an inch-long, wriggling black beetle.

Unfortunately for Pret, it sold the offending sandwich to a Metropolitan Police employee. Ms Khan, 30, screamed when she saw the insect after sitting down in the New Scotland Yard canteen.

The administrator from Wimbledon said: "It was at least an inch long, it had legs sticking out everywhere. It was horrendous: if I hadn't looked at the sandwich I would have eaten it."

Chief Inspector Steve Osborn said: "It was huge and it was alive. How could anyone making the sandwich have missed it?" He took a photo of the beetle before Ms Khan returned it to the shop in Tothill Street. The manager apologised and offered her a free lunch.

Julian Metcalfe, Pret's founder and creative director, said: "We will find who made this sandwich.

"Our lettuce company is embarrassed. They wash lettuces and check them three times. We wash and check them again. We made a mistake and I am very sorry."

Identifying the bug as a ground beetle, he said his firm used food produced with fewer pesticides.

"This means we're now more likely to experience this type of problem. In three years, this is the third time I am aware this has happened. Surely it is better to use fewer pesticides and serve the freshest food possible?"

Westminster council said it could investigate if Ms Khan made a complaint.