An 18-month-old toddler was left covered in a horrific red rash over her body which ' looked like burn marks' after accidentally squirting tomato ketchup on herself.

Leanne Bullard's daughter, Alice, suffered an allergic reaction after spilling the sauce from a £1 squeezy bottle of Daddies Tomato Ketchup.

Mrs Bullard, 39, did not realise until she was bathing her daughter after dinner and noticed bright red marks on her skin on June 14.

18-month-old Alice suffered a shocking reaction

Fortunately the rash went down after a few hours and the youngster recovered.

She later discovered that her daughter had suffered a reaction to a preservative used in the tomato ketchup brand which she had bought at Iceland .

Speaking about the incident she said: "On Friday evening I made the children pizza and chips for their tea. I'd bought Daddies' Tomato Ketchup in the plastic bottle.

"It's not normally the brand I buy but I had run out and was in the shop and that was the only one they had so I picked it up.

"Obviously I gave it to the kids with their tea and within half an hour - because Alice is only 18 months old - she had got it absolutely everywhere.

"I got some baby wipes which are the same brand I always use that she had never had a reaction to and wiped it off her.

"When I did wipe it off her, directly underneath where the tomato ketchup had been were red marks and patches.

"It looked like she had been burnt, it looked like scolds.

"I thought 'Oh my God, What's happened? What am I going to do?'"

"NHS 101 advised me that I had to be aware that because she had consumed it as well that it could cause her airways to swell and just to watch over her really.

"It wasn't until about two or three hours later that it cleared up completely.

"I sat Googling it and realised that other children had also had a reaction."

Little Alice is on the mend

After complaining directly to parent company Heinz Mrs Bullard was told that the sauce contained a chemical that was used exclusively in the squeezy bottles.

She was told that a plastic bottle contains potassium sorbate which can cause an allergic reaction to some youngsters but that the chemical was not present in the glass bottle version of the sauce.

She was also told the chemical was not in any Heinz products - even those that also come in plastic containers.

Mrs Bullard, who lives with her family in Halesworth, Suffolk, said: "You would think that being in a plastic bottle you would have thought it was more child-friendly because obviously I wouldn't give a glass bottle to a child."

She is now keen for other parents to be aware their child may have a similar reaction.

"Some children could have had a more severe reaction, it could have been a lot worse especially if it had reacted with Alice's throat or her airways.

"That's quite scary for a parent."

Leanne says Alice's skin looked as if it had been burned

The mother-of-four said Alice is not allergic to anything else nor had she seen a reaction like this from any of her other children either.

She originally posted on a Halesworth Community Voice Facebook page to help raise awareness.

Other parents reacted strongly with many adding that their children had also reacted to some dipping sauces.

A spokesman for Heinz said: "We were very sorry to hear about Leanne's experience.

"From the information shared it may have been a reaction to the tiny amount of potassium sorbate which is widely used in some foods as a preservative and is part of the recipe for Daddies Tomato Ketchup in plastic bottles.

"We have confirmed with Leanne that Daddies Tomato Ketchup in glass bottles is made without potassium sorbate because of a different filling process, and it is not used in Heinz Tomato Ketchup.

"Of course the details of these recipes are clearly labelled.

"We have sent Leanne a voucher as a gesture of goodwill to enable her to replace the bottle."