Lidl has issued a recall of one of its chicken products which may contain pieces of hard blue plastic.

The supermarket giant is recalling its Red Hen Battered Chicken Dippers due to the possible presence of plastic, making it unsafe to eat.

The affected product is the 25 pack of chicken dippers, which comes in 450g packs.

Blue plastic may be found in packs with a batch code of 306931400 and a best before date of February 25.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has issued a “do not eat” warning to anyone who has purchased the chicken dippers from Lidl recently.

A spokesman said: “Lidl GB is recalling the above product. Point of sale notices will be displayed in all Lidl GB stores.

“These notices explain to customers why the product is being recalled and tells them what to do if they have bought the product.

“If you have bought the above product do not eat it. Instead, return it to the store from where it was bought or contact customer.care@lidl.co.uk or call 0203 966 5566 for a full refund.”

What is a product recall?

If there is a problem with a food product that means it should not be sold, then it might be 'withdrawn' (taken off the shelves) or 'recalled' (when customers are asked to return the product).

The FSA issues Product Withdrawal Information Notices and Product Recall Information Notices to let consumers and local authorities know about problems associated with food.

In some cases, a 'Food Alert for Action' is issued.

This provides local authorities with details of specific actions to be taken on behalf of consumers.