Aussie left 'mortified' by 'disgusting' find in Domino's pizza

A Domino’s customer has been left “absolutely disgusted” after coming across an unsettling find in her pizza.

Ebony, from Mt Annan in Sydney’s south west, who did not wish to have her last name used, placed an order for four pizzas with her local Domino’s in Narellan on Sunday night, which she planned to share with family and friends.

But what she discovered in one of her pizzas left her "mortified". After biting into a slice, she realised she was biting down on something unusually hard. After taking it out of her mouth, she realised it was a false fingernail.

"I was absolutely mortified and disgusted. I was instantly gagging at the idea that was in my mouth," she told Yahoo News Australia.

“I had bitten into the pizza and was chewing when I felt something hard in my mouth.

“I originally thought I had the ball of my tongue piercing come off, and it was just that in my mouth, so when I pulled it out and saw it was a fingernail, I was mortified.”

Warning others on a local community Facebook page, Ebony said she also found a “huge clump of hair” in another pizza ordered at the same time.

‘That’s disgusting’

After attempting to call the fast-food outlet without a response, she decided to drive back to alert the manager.

“The manager didn’t really seem like he cared,” Ebony said, adding that she also confronted a staff member who was sitting on a bench used to prepare food.

“[The staff member] was sitting on the prep bench checking her nails and smugly said: 'Oh, it’s not mine', which annoyed me, so I asked whose nail was in my mouth then, and she was like: 'Uhh, I dunno what colour was it' so I stated the colour, and as soon as I did she jumped off the bench and hid,” Ebony recalled.

Other members of the community were equally appalled at the shocking discovery, encouraging her to complain to the New South Wales Food Authority.

“They’ll investigate and likely send out an inspector randomly to do a spot hygiene, safe food handling and storage inspection,” one person advised.

“That’s disgusting. Call head office,” advised another. “Unfortunately, I’ve also had a bad experience there,” said a third.

Meanwhile, some called for gloves and hair coverings to be mandatory in food preparation areas to avoid similar situations occurring in future.

The current Health and Hygiene requirements for Food Handlers by the New South Wales Food Authority state that gloves are not always required.

“The Food Standards Code does not require food handlers to use gloves. Even when wearing gloves, in many situations, it may be preferable to use utensils such as tongs or spoons,” the website states.

Domino's responds

A Domino's Australia spokesperson told Yahoo News Australia that a sample of the pizza was being tested after a "foreign object" was found. All stores have since also been reminded of the company's "rigorous" food safety protocol following the incident.

"At Domino’s, food safety is our top priority, and even one incident like this is one too many," the spokesperson said.

"The Domino’s Narellan store apologised and refunded the customer’s order as soon as they were made aware of this and collected a sample of the pizza for further testing. Additionally, we have issued an important reminder to all of our stores about our rigorous food safety procedures.

"We take our responsibility as a food business seriously and are proud to deliver thousands of delicious pizzas every day that our customers love."

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