An investigation was under way today after a family complained they found a metal nail in a supermarket curry.

Paul Holt, 20, said he was eating a chicken curry from Asda's frozen food range when he discovered the half inch nail.

Today a spokesman for the supermarket giant said it was perplexed how it got there but its inquiries were being hampered by the family's refusal to hand over the nail.

Mr Holt, of Longfield Drive, East Bowling, Bradford, said he was shocked when he discovered it in his dinner.

"I could have swallowed it and choked to death," he said.

Mr Holt said he had spoken to the manager of the Asda store and had been offered five new curries and a £10 voucher as compensation.

But he said: "I am going to see a solicitor. This sort of thing should not happen."

Mr Holt's mother, Susan Jack, 47, said she regularly bought the ready meals for her family from the store in Rooley Lane, Bierley.

She said: "I am very upset, my son could have choked.

"I have my two-year-old grandson staying with me and if I'd given him the curry it could have been even more serious."

Mrs Jack added: "We are going to take this further. Whoever is responsible is not doing their job right."

The Asda spokesman confirmed the family had lodged a complaint at the store.

"We asked if we could take the nail for testing but the woman said she would rather take it further herself," he said.

"We would be happy to send the nail off for testing to find out how it got there in the first place but we cannot do that because she is unwilling to give us the nail. If she wants to bring it back into the store we would happily find out how it got there.

"We do not understand how the nail got into the curry because all our ready-meals go through a metal detection point."

Mrs Jack said she had wanted to keep the nail as evidence for when she consulted a solicitor and Bradford Council's Environmental Health department.

"Asda was saying it was going to send it away and it would get back to me but I wanted to keep the proof. If it sent the nail away I would have no proof if I speak to a solicitor," she said.