A hungry pizza lover was left cheesed off when she found a “potentially lethal” metal spiral nestled inside her toppings.

Lizzie Pichler was tucking into the final slice of the large vegetable supreme from Pizza Hut in Ballards Lane, Finchley Central when she spotted something silver and shiny.

She had ordered the takeaway with friends at her house in West Finchley on Wednesday night – but only discovered the offending item when she ate the rest for breakfast on Thursday morning.

A stomach-churning photograph shows the metal spiral baked into the cheese between the pineapple and mushrooms.

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She said: “I feel sick. If I had not realised the metal piece was there I could have damaged my teeth.

"Or worse, I could have choked. The damage it could have caused going down the throat or going down the internal organs could have been deadly.

"If I had swallowed it, I would have surely ended up in hospital needing an operation to remove it. It could have killed me. 

“I dread to think what could have happened. What if that meal had been served to a child? It’s potentially lethal.

“I can’t believe I had pretty much eaten the whole thing before realising what was there.”

The group of friends ordered five pizzas and two portions of garlic bread but nobody else found any other foreign objects in their meals.

She believes the metal spiral could have come loose from a pineapple or mushroom tin and is now calling for an investigation.

“I am in shock,” she added.

“I never expected pizza to be this dangerous.”

A spokesperson for Pizza Hut Delivery said: “We take health and food hygiene extremely seriously and have carried out a thorough review into this matter with the Hut involved.

"From our investigation, we are confident that this was an isolated incident and we have spoken with the customer to apologise.

"We pride ourselves on our high standards and are retraining our team to ensure they adhere to our strict procedures so that this does not happen again.”