Why did the canteen worker munch sausages and cake? To test them of course!

A Dunnes Stores café worker says she was concerned for her customers' dining experience - that's why she scoffed on sausages, chips and cream cakes. She says she was testing the food to make sure it was OK to serve.

Christina Knowles was employed by the Dunnes Stores restaurant in their Ilac Centre branch until she was fired for eating food while on duty. CCTV footage of the serving counter shows Knowles eating bangers and chips before wiping her gob on her sleeve and serving customers.

The company fired her and she has now taken a case, sponsored by the Mandate trade union, to the Employment Appeals Tribunal. Knowles says she was only tasting the food to make sure it was warm enough to serve.

Knowles was also seen eating part of a cream cake - but don't worry, she was taking one for the team. She wanted to make sure it hadn't gone off.

The store manager Philip Monroe said Knowles wasn't just picking at food: "but from the video footage it was picking a product and eating and eating and eating. It was actually grazing; she was taking whole handfuls and eating from it".

Monroe was asked why Knowles wasn't given a warning, to which he quipped: "If you see a bank robber outside the place, you don't tell him you can't rob banks."

The company said it had clear procedures in place for testing the temperature of food and rejected Knowles claim that probes often didn't work.

Christina Knowles, what a selfless legend!