10:19am UK, Thursday March 24, 2005

A diner in California has found a human finger in a bowl of fast food chilli.

The woman made the shocking discovery only after putting the finger in her mouth with a spoonful of chilli.

180 bowl of chilli

Unpleasant extra ingredient

"This individual apparently did take a spoonful, did have a finger in their mouth and then, you know, spit it out and recognised it," health officer Ben Gale said.

"Then they had some kind of emotional reaction and vomited."

A medical examiner later confirmed the object in question was a human finger.

Local officials have launched an investigation into how the finger came to be in the food at the Wendy's restaurant in San Jose.

Officials are trying to determine if it came in the raw materials used to prepare the food.

Wendy's is the third-largest hamburger chain in the US.