A DRINK from a fast food outlet caused irritation and stomach cramps for a mother-of-two.

Samantha Meigh, above right, believes she was poisoned by undiluted chlorine cleaning powder in her drink of coke.

The 22-year-old, from Gallimore Close, Burslem, says she usually orders a deli sandwich and a happy meal for her four-year-old son Jack, but after this lunchtime visit, she has vowed to never set foot in a McDonald's again.

She said: "I went into the McDonald's in Chesterton with my partner for lunch and I ordered a chicken and bacon deli with chips and coke.

"I was really thirsty so I took a gulp of the drink as soon as I sat down. I immediately knew something was wrong. It was horrendous, powdery and it felt like I had swallowed a mouthful of bleach. It was about 20 times worse than a mouthful of swimming pool water.

"My partner saw my face and ran straight to the counter with the drink saying, 'What the hell is in this?' He says there was powder around my mouth.

"The manager said it must be a problem with an ice cube or the coke syrup but my mouth was tingling by this stage and I told her it was something more serious than that. She offered me a bottle of water and a free meal but there was no way I could eat anything."

Miss Meigh, a customer service adviser, used to work in a hotel where she used chlorine sanitizer powder when cleaning. The crystals are ordinarily diluted before use. When she told the McDonald's staff she suspected that was what was in her drink they said it may have been the solution they used to clean out the machines.

Miss Meigh added: "My mouth was burning so I went to a chemists. They told me to go to A&E, or the walk-in centre at the Haywood Hospital in Burslem.

"The staff at the Haywood Centre contacted a poison department in Birmingham to find out what would happen to me. They told me to expect stomach cramps, which I had the next day, and to get back in touch if my symptoms worsened. But fortunately I recovered and did not need any treatment.

"My main concern is that this could have happened to a child and the effects could have been far worse. I used to take my son Jack to McDonald's once a week, but I will never let him eat there again."

A McDonald's spokesman said: "We are very sorry that our usual high standards of quality were not met in this isolated incident.

"At the time, our first priority was to help the customer. It certainly was not our intention to cause any alarm and we appreciate that speculating about the cause of the problem was not the best way of handling the incident. We have now launched an urgent investigation."

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