THE MIRROR (London, UK) 10 November 13 Strict vegetarian finds LIVE NEWT in bowl of Sainsbury's tomato and mozzarella salad

Katharine Wood thought she had been ­"eating the very leaves where it had been laying and probably urinating"... and it disgusted her

Veggie Katharine Wood certainly tasted the ­difference when she tucked into her Sainsbury’s salad and found a live newt.

Katharine, 29, was eating lunch at her office desk when she spotted something moving in the leaves.

On closer inspection of her £2.50 mozzarella and tomato bowl she was shocked to see a little newt looking up at her.

Katharine, a finance boss, screamed with horror before rushing to the toilet to wash out her mouth.

She told the Sunday People: “I had already taken about five mouthfuls.

“The thought I’d been ­eating the very leaves where it had been laying and probably urinating disgusted me. I could have actually put it into my mouth.

"As a strict vegetarian it was particularly distressing to find an animal in my food.”

Colleagues at Katharine’s central London office crowded round to see the two-inch newt and filmed it.

She said: “My lunch became the talk of the office. No one could believe their eyes. This slimy newt was moving around in the salad as if nothing had happened.

"I felt upset for it and a colleague and I tried to give it water.”

Katharine then rushed the newt and salad back to Sainsbury’s Holborn store.

Bosses called in an entomologist who identified the refugee as a common smooth newt. The expert said they go into hiding at this time of year.

Customer manager John Jackson said: “It could have buried itself in a crate of leaves destined for the hand assembly bowl line and would have survived the washing process.”

Sainsbury’s apologised and sent a £25 gift card.

But Katharine, of Rochester, Kent, is far from happy.

She said: “I was ill for a week with suspected salmonella ­poisoning, which I now know you can catch from just ­touching a newt.

“This whole experience has ruined my relationship with food , especially salads. I won’t be shopping there again.”

The newt wasn’t feeling too good either and has gone to the salad bowl in the sky.

Sainsbury’s said: “It was in a fragile state. Our supplier planned to release it in the wild but sadly it passed away.”

Sex secrets of a smoothie

The smooth newt is Britain’s most ­common and thrives on a diet of worms, slugs, flies and frog-spawn.

The female mates with multiple males and lays up to 300 eggs. It lives on ­average for six years but can survive until 20 and grow to four inches.

They are often eaten by fish and great crested newts but are protected by wildlife laws from being sold.
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