London, May 29 A 36-year-old woman in South Wales was surprised when she saw an image resembling Jesus upon opening a jar of Marmite.

Mum of three Claire Allen, of Ystrad, Rhondda, said that she was stunned to see Jesus staring back at her.

She revealed that the blobs of yeast extract under the lid had mysteriously formed the shape of a familiar bearded face.

"I opened the Marmite jar, put it on the breakfast bar and the lid caught my eye," the Sun quoted her as saying.

"I just looked at it and immediately thought, 'That's Jesus Christ'.

"It wasn't a new jar, but I had never noticed it before," she added.

Claire revealed that she also showed the image to her two eldest sons Jamie, 14, and Tomas, 11. I was about to do some Marmite on toast for Robbie's breakfast when I saw the face," she said. I showed it to my two eldest boys and straight away they could see a face.They thought it looked like the images of Jesus you see in paintings and stained glass windows," she added.

Claire and her husband Gareth believe the incident to mean that the son of God is looking out for their family.

She said: "I'm not particularly religious - but we've had a tough couple of months and it's comforting to think that if he is there, he's watching over us."

A spokesman for Marmite maker Unilever said: "While we know many people have a Marmite passion, we can't promise a representation from Jesus in all of our jars." (ANI)