A cup of chili on a breezy day may tempt some, but definitely not Miss Leslie-Ann Phillips after she found a fake nail in what she thought would be a nice lunch.

Miss Phillips, who works at the United Parcel Service, went next door to The Donut House this week to order lunch for herself and some fellow employees.

"I ordered the cup of chili and took it back to the office to eat,'' Miss Phillips said.

"I had gotten down to the bottom of the cup and as I was chewing, I felt something really hard and I spit it out in a napkin,'' she added.

Miss Phillips was too afraid to look at what she knew was something that was not suppose to be there so she took the napkin to a friend in the office for inspection.

"My friend told me that it was a fake fingernail with bronze nail polish on it. It still had the glue on the inside,'' Miss Phillips said.

She added that she showed the nail to the rest of her fellow workers and then marched back to the Donut House clutching the nail as evidence.

"A woman who works at the Donut House told me that none of the girls that work in the shop wore fake nails.

Miss Phillips also said the woman suggested that it could have come from Butterfield and Vallis food service division because that was where they get their meat and red beans for the chili.

"The woman looked at me and asked whether the nail could have been mine and I showed her that all my nails are purple, and real,'' Miss Phillips said. In a quest to find out exactly how a nail did get in her chili Miss Phillips called Butterfield and Vallis and the owner of the Donut House Mr. Fred Pereech.

"Mr. Pereech also said the nail must have come from Butterfield and Vallis, and when I told him how dirty it was he said that when you boil something six or seven times it is 100 percent bacteria free.

"And then he told me I would get reimbursed for my troubles,'' a disgusted Miss Phillips said.

But a worker at Butterfield and Vallis said only men work in their meats department.

Miss Phillips added: "When people serve food, I don't care where they work, they should wear gloves.

"You're handling people's food with your hands, anything can happen.'' Miss Phillips also said that the nail was handed over to the Health Department.

In a written statement Mr. Pereech said an in-depth investigation was immediately conducted.

"No staff members have artificial nails, food is prepared using gloves, containers of chili are always covered both in pots and in the refrigerator, costumers do not serve themselves and before serving, the product is kept well above the regulation 140 degrees,'' he said.

Mr. Pereech added: "Ingredients such as ground beef, chili sauce, tomato puree and beans are purchased from Butterfield and Vallis and are received sealed. The celery is purchased from a reputable supermarket.'' He also stated that Government Health Inspector Ms Liz Richardson visited the Donut House and her comments only referred to white dust which was the result of working with large amounts of farinaceous products.

DISGUSTED -- Miss Leslie-Ann Phillips holds a fake fingernail that was found in her cup of chili from the Donut House.