My husband found a piece of broken glass in a sliced Hovis loaf in June this year. I wrote to Hovis the same day but after 10 days and no reply I sent them an email. They wanted to collected said foreign object but I asked them to just inspect at this stage. They declined. I contacted East Hampshire District Council (EDHC) who collected the glass fragment and remains of loaf. I told the officer who visited me that I ha declined to send the glass and loaf to Hovis at this stage. Despite this she sent the glass to Hovis for a report! Hovis then wrote to me with their report claiming that the glass was soda glass and probably originated in a domestic environment. EDHC wrote and said they would take no further action in the light of the Hovis report. They said that one complaint on its own was not enough to establish sufficient cause for prosecution as Hovis have a 'no glass' policy and can apparently not be prosecuted if they can show 'procedures'are in place. Their defence would be 'due diligence'. I have written to EHDC and asked them why they allowed the firm against whom I made a complaint to carry out the initial examination and why they were prepared to accept a large company's word over mine without further discussion with me. It would appear that there is very little an individual like me can do when our local trading standards departments are prepared to cosy up to big business and only take on cases that are -in their opinion- winnable in a court of law. My husband had a narrow escape from swallowing a significant glass fragment in a sliced loaf. It did not come from our 'domestic environment' and the loaf bag was intact. Who can I turn to when my local health dept have clearly only gone through the legal motions with no appetite for gretting at the cause of the problem. I am willing to give my contact details. VE Woodroff 2 Hunter's Chase Liphook Hants