WHEN Diane Trollope bought a loaf of bread the packet warned that it could contain nuts.

But the last thing the mother of two expected to find lurking in the dough was a metal bolt.

Mrs Trollope was buttering a slice of Brace's thick-sliced white, which she had toasted for her seven-year-old son David, who has chicken pox, when she noticed a mark.

"I thought it had gone mouldy but then I realised it was something strange," said classroom assistant Mrs Trollope, of Underwood Road in Oakdale.

Inside the toast she found a painted metal bolt. "I was shocked," she said.

"I'm glad I noticed it before I gave it to my children. We had already eaten a few slices but we went off it when we saw that."

Brace's Bakery sent their technical manager to collect the bolt for tests. Mrs Trollope said she was glad they were taking it seriously.

"I have always eaten Brace's bread and fed it to my children," she added. "It is my favourite and tastes the best. We'll carry on buying it because this was a one-off."

Scott Richardson, sales and marketing director for Brace's, said the bolt had fallen from a machine which contractors worked on last weekend. He said they were bitterly disappointed and had launched an investigation. "We pride ourselves on producing loaves of the highest quality and maintain the most stringent standards throughout the baking process," he said.

"We have apologised to the family and would assure them that every step has been taken to prevent a future occurrence."

Mrs Trollope, her husband Paul, David, and daughter Jayde, 11, are to visit Brace's to see the bread being made.