Mother finds cigarette butt in her Chinese takeaway

A mother found a smouldering cigarette butt in her Chinese takeaway after a strong stench of smoke started coming from her microwave as she reheated her meal.Tracy Antoine, 32, doesn't smoke so was surprised when the acrid smell began wafting through the house. The mother-of-four discovered the cigarette end nestled in the middle of her rice as she started sharing it with her one-year-old daughter.Mrs Antoine had already eaten most of the £32 takeaway the previous night so was disgusted to see what had been hidden in her meal.She complained to the nearby Mao Buffet restaurant in Chatham, Kent, where staff apologised and refunded her - but denied the cigarette was theirs.The full-time mother, who lives with non-smoking husband Jeffrey, 35, said: 'I was disgusted. We’ve had takeaways from there before and never had any problems.'We’d got a few different things because we were really tired and just wanted an easy meal.'It’s something we do maybe once a month and in the end a lot of it went in the fridge for later in the week.'When I began to heat it up the place immediately reeked of smoke but I just put it down to a faulty microwave.'Me and my daughter must have had seven or eight spoonfuls before I found the cigarette butt.'Mrs Antoine, who asked not to be pictured, added: 'I was very angry and very worried because my baby could have put it in her mouth.'I won’t be ordering from there again and I don’t think we will have takeaway again. I think it is best to stick to home cooking from now on.'Tracey claimed that when she phoned to complain about the incident she was told the chef responsible for the cigarette had been 'disciplined'.She has now reported the incident to Medway Council’s environmental health team who are investigating.However, Yin Hoang, director of the restaurant, said all meals were prepared fresh and kitchen staff are adamant no one was smoking in the kitchen on that night.She added: 'I’m 100 per cent sure there was no tobacco in the meal.'(dailymail.co.uk)ANN.Az