Employees at a Tesco grocery store in England are facing criticism for threatening a pair of Italian students with legal action for touching muffins.

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Colin Gott, a host for the two 17-year-old girls, said one of the exchange students lightly squeezed two muffins at a store bakery in Exeter to test their freshness and set them back down before purchasing a third muffin. Gott told The Sun security guards from the store confronted the girls on their way out of the shop and took them to a basement room for "questioning."

Gott said the store employees told the girls they could face prosecution on a charge of food contamination before they were released into the custody of their carers. He said the incident left the students "shocked and distressed."

"It's ludicrous and an absolute farce, especially at a time when we are trying to encourage visitors," he said. "The worry is the view that these two young people and their friends take back home with them. In Italy they have a much more hands-on approach to food shopping but it doesn't mean they are contaminating everything. If just a little common sense had been used this all could have been avoided."