Birds Eye send boy with Asperger's who had stopped eating 2,000 free chicken nuggets

Birds Eye have sent 2,000 free chicken nuggets to a young boy with Asperger's syndrome who stopped eating when the recipe changed.

William Stocker, eight, also battles Avoidant-Restrictive Food Intake Disorder, meaning he only eats the nuggets and a few other sugary foods.

When William suddenly started refusing the chicken chunks, his regular lunch and dinner dish, his parents became concerned.

They soon established that the recipe and colour of the nugget had changed, so they launched an appeal to find stocks of the original recipe.

After learning of the search, Birds Eye delivered 40kg worth of nuggets, made with the original recipe, to the family's home in Malvern, Worcestershire.

William's mother, Mandy, 44, said: "I cooked the last four nuggets on Tuesday morning and at 10.30am I had a delivery.

"They sent 2,000 free nuggets.

"Birds Eye promised to bring us the old recipe and they did. I think they cooked them especially for us. I was so happy."

Mrs Stocker explained the difficulties presented by her son's eating disorder, making it vital she found the original recipe.

"William eats them all year round, even for Christmas dinner," she said.

"It's so hard, we can't take him to a restaurant, he won't eat with us, he can't even look at other foods.

"The amount of time people say put the food in front of him and he'll get hungry. But he won't, he would rather starve."

She added: "It has been so nice how many people I've met from this appeal who have the same or similar problems."