Boy, 10, bites into shard of glass in toast

Mother fears other loaves of bread could contain similar nasty surprises.

A mother holds a piece of bread with a 2.5cm shard of glass that her son bit into yesterday.

ABU DHABI // Moments after Thomas, 10, bit into a slice of toast with jam, he spat it out in disgust, saying, "I can't eat this!"

His mother could immediatedly see why: inside the bread was a 2.5 centimetre shard of glass.

"We're very lucky that it didn't cut him," said the American mother of two, who has lived in Abu Dhabi for six years and did not want to be identified. "It had a sharp point. It's something we did not expect from a place that we trust."

The mother, 42, bought the loaf and two others from Al Bateen branch of the Abu Dhabi Co-operative Society on Sunday, and says she will not go back there.

"There might be some chunks of glass on the same batch of bread from the store," she said. "We have to be very careful. It could cause a serious injury.

"Precautions have to be taken by the Co-op. There should be no glass anywhere near where they bake their bread."

A spokesman for the Co-operative Society said while it did not rule out that its bread might have contained glass, it followed strict Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points guidelines.

The Co-op expects its suppliers to abide by the same quality standards and procedures, he said.

"In our production line, it is highly impossible that glass will find its way there," he said. "But we will look into it, understand the issue and talk to the customer."

As for Thomas, "I guess he'll have poached eggs or cereals and fruit salad for breakfast tomorrow," said his mother.