A couple were left ‘feeling sick’ after claiming they discovered a dead insect in the sweet and sour sauce of their Chinese takeaway.

Lauren Bradshaw, 22, and her partner Ben Hammond, 24, ordered four dishes from the Golden Dragon in Market Street, Farnworth, through delivery website JustEat.

The food arrived half-an-hour later, but when Ben was about to put a forkful into his mouth he says he spotted a beetle or bug on his plate.

Lauren said: “We’ve ordered from there quite a few times and we’ve never had any problems like this before. Ben saw it literally just as he was about to scoop some food up with his fork.

“He asked me what I thought it was and started picking at it, then saw legs and wings. He was shocked. When we realised what it was we were both disgusted. We stopped eating and I phoned the takeaway straight away.

“She asked if we could send her pictures or provide her with evidence. She then said, ‘Can you bring the food to the takeaway?’

“Ben could hear this and was fed up, so he picked up his plate and got in the car. He phoned me when he got there and said they were acting oblivious, denying they knew anything about it.

“The woman in there told him, ‘That hasn’t come from us as all the windows and doors are closed’. He then walked around to the back and saw all the windows and doors were open.”

Lauren took pictures of the food, which she sent to the Manchester Evening News, and left a negative review on the JustEat website .

She also contacted Food Standards Agency through Bolton council’s website.

She added: “I couldn’t believe the way they handled it. Why would anyone do that to their own food? It was Friday night and I was starving, but after all that we both felt a bit sick and went hungry instead.”

Lauren Bradshaw, 22, and her partner Ben Hammond, 24
Lauren Bradshaw, 22, and her partner Ben Hammond, 24

It’s not clear what the creature was, but Lauren thinks a beetle or large fly. And the mum-of-one said she was relieved her eight-month-old son Joshua was in bed by the time the takeaway arrived, as he sometimes has some of the delivery food.

“I would have been mortified if I had been feeding him that,” she added.

The Golden Dragon currently has a Food Standards Agency rating of 2, which is classed as ‘improvement necessary’.

A spokeswoman for the takeaway told the Manchester Evening News: “We told them they could have a refund if they brought back all of the order. But the customer had already finished most of the food and brought in one plate with a fly on it.

“The fly was still fresh. If it had come from our kitchen it would have been fried in the pan. Maybe he left the food on the table in his house. We have proper safety in our kitchen and we don’t agree with what the customer is saying.”