A grandad was given a fright when he opened a bag of Aldi broccoli that had been in his fridge for three days.
Neville Lenton, 63, bought the vegetable from a store in Stourbridge, West Midlands, on June 2. Three days later he opened it to prepare a meal when he spotted a snake inside the bag.
Neville initially thought the creature was a caterpillar before realising how big it was.
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He said: "It was pretty frightening. I'm not good with snakes. It's lucky I didn't just leave the broccoli out in the kitchen, or it would have been loose in the house.
"That would have been a huge risk for us because we have two vulnerable people living here."
Neville's sister Ann-Marie Tenkanemin, 57, scooped the snake up and drove it back to the Aldi store where Neville had made the purchase. He added: "The guy in the shop was pretty frightened too."
It was later taken to nearby Dudley Zoo where it was identified as a ladder snake. The species is from south western Europe and, although not venomous, can give humans a nasty nip.
Neville has been offered compensation, but says the amount offered does not make up for the risk to his disabled son and vulnerable mother-in-law, who live with him. He added: "It's just not good enough, the implications for us if it had got out in the house are huge.
"Plus, I'm phobic of snakes so there's the emotional impact of that too."
An Aldi spokesperson said: “Our supplier has never had a complaint of this nature and has robust processes in place to prevent such issues occurring. We are investigating this isolated incident and have apologised to Mr Linton that our usual high standards were not met."
Ladder snakes are mostly found in Portugal, Spain, southern France and parts of Italy. They can become aggressive when threatened and are capable of letting off a foul odour.
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