'My daughter, 4, found mouse dropping in her happy meal'

Kellie Claridge, 24, said she bought Arabella, four, the meal from the Shoreham drive-through on Saturday.

A picture of the burger shows a small brown object, which Mrs Claridge claimed “smelt of poo” when she held it up to her nose.

A McDonald’s spokesman said it has since confirmed the item was carbon from the grill.

Mrs Claridge said she was shocked and furious and drove back to the drive-through to demand an apology.

She said the restaurant manager argued it was not a mouse dropping but rather carbon from the grill.

Mrs Claridge, from Portslade, said they had “a blazing row in front of stunned diners” and the manager “squeezed” the foreign object and got some carbon from the kitchen to compare.

Mrs Claridge said she told the manager: “What you have in your right hand is carbon. 

“What you have in your other hand and just squished in your fingers is mouse poo. 

“That’s disgusting.

“He told me, ‘I’m not apologising for something that is not poo, ma’am’.”

Mrs Claridge said she and her husband Rob, 31, had taken Arabella and son Arthur, one, to McDonald’s as a treat after a dog walk.

She said she was “absolutely disgusted” and had vowed never to go back to McDonald’s again.

She claimed her daughter  has been put off the food for life, “believing all burgers have poo in them”.

She said: “Arabella has burgers in school and I’m trying to tell her that not every burger will have poo in it.

“She picks apart her burgers and eats them separately – if she wasn’t a clever girl and pointed out something was wrong, she could have eaten it. Arthur definitely would have if that was in his food.

“I am absolutely disgusted by their hygiene standards and I have contacted environmental health and head office at McDonald’s to make a complaint to.

“I wanted to make everyone else aware as to what kind of standards were happening here and how their staff treat a young mother like myself.

“I will never be buying from there again and I hope environmental health go and inspect the restaurant.”

The McDonald’s spokesman said: “Food quality and safety are of the utmost importance to us and we place great emphasis on quality control, following rigorous standards in order to avoid any imperfections. 

“We were made aware of this issue, and following closer examination, confirmed that a small amount of carbon residue from our grill was present. 

“Obviously this does not meet our high standards and we would like to invite the customer back to  apologise and replace their meal.”