Red stuff discovered in block of Pams butter by Whangarei Heads woman

When Tania Whyte sliced through a block of butter there was a bit of a surprise. Photo/ Supplied

Slicing through a block of butter with a knife revealed something foreign for Whangarei Heads woman Tania Whyte.

Instead of a dollop of creamy yellow butter for a plate of freshly grown and steaming green beans there were flecks of what looked like red plastic bits through the middle of the 500g block of Pams branded butter.

"I'd already used a bit of the block for garlic butter but it wasn't until I sliced a bigger bit off that you could see all the red stuff. At first I thought it was like saffron sprinkled through it."

The block was bought from a Whangarei supermarket and the unusual discovery was made on the weekend.

Something wasn't right when the centre a block of Pams butter was sliced open.

Mrs Whyte, who also works as a photographer for the Northern Advocate, said she had used a fair bit of butter recently for baking but had not experienced anything like this before.

Mrs Whyte said she contacted Pams via email on Monday and the Pams and Value Customer service team replied saying they were sorry she had found the product unsatisfactory.

"Your complaint will be forwarded to the supplier. On receiving the information, we would like to send you a voucher to the value of $5 so you may purchase goods of your choice."

In response she replied thanking them for the voucher but was unsure it would be enough to cover the price of a replacement block of butter these days.

In a statement late on Monday head of external relations for Foodstuffs Antoinette Laird said the normal process was to compensate the customer for the cost of the product and a $10 voucher had been offered to Mrs Whyte.

The process when a customer discovered a foreign body in a product was to get the item so it could be laboratory tested to determine the cause. That was now happening.

"This is the only complaint we have had which suggests this is most likely an isolated incident. The investigation will give us more information," Mrs Laird said.

"Once the cause is identified corrective actions will be put in place by the supplier to prevent a reoccurrence."