Co-operative shoppers in Oswestry, Shropshire have been left feeling ill after eating doughnuts that had been contaminated with cleaning fluid.

The branch had sold jam-and-custard doughnuts, which had been baked on a tray left to soak in cleaning fluid.

The company said the baking trays had been left for too long, and this is what had tainted the flavour of the doughnuts.

The tainted doughnuts were sold from The Co-op’s Cabin Lane branch in Oswestry.

A spokesman for The Co-operative Food said: “We are committed to offering consistently high-quality products and service and, we are sorry that this product fell short of those expectations.

“The matter has been thoroughly investigated and an isolated issue regarding the correct cleaning process for our oven trays was identified.

“This has now been addressed.”

Lita Williams, from Oswestry, told the Mirror.co.uk: “I took one bite out of the doughnut and said to my husband it tasted funny, it tasted of antiseptic of some kind.

“I could taste it on the roof of my mouth and I had a burning sensation.

“I took them back to the shop and the assistant manager tasted one and even she said she could taste disinfectant, so they were all taken off the shelves.”

The company has said this was an isolated incident.

Shropshire Council has confirmed it is investigating the case, but would not comment further.