When heading to your coffee chain of choice, the last thing you'd expect to see is bugs crawling all over the cakes - but that's what happened to one 'shocked' Costa fan as he filmed what he claims were ants crawling all over the food on sale.
Daniel Renak was craving something sweet when he headed into Tottenham's Costa Coffee earlier this week, but the 21-year-old got more than he bargained for and was 'quickly put off' after spotting the treats 'crawling with ants'.
When he confronted the staff members present, he was allegedly given a bizarre response, with someone saying the infestation 'doesn't bother' other customers.
He was also reportedly told that the manager was 'aware' of the problem, but after he suggested staff bin the food, it remained on display for 25 minutes after his instruction.
In the shocking clip posted online, ants and flies appear to crawl over chocolate brownies and tiffin - right next to Costa's newly-released Christmas treats.
Now Daniel has vowed not to return to the chain over concerns about its 'food hygiene' standards.
He said: "I had a bit of a craving for some sort of cake at lunchtime.
"I went into Costa and was really quickly put off having anything because it was literally crawling with ants and flies. It was a sign for me not to have one.
"I spoke to a lady at the counter and made a point. I said 'your display has flies and ants all over it - you need to take this off display'. It was unhygienic.
"Her response was 'it doesn't bother some of our customers'. I think they were the exact words she said.
"[She said] some of their customers weren't bothered or worried about that. It was literally swarming in it and they just didn't care."
After realising he was unlikely to get the desired response from the Costa employee, he then went online to flag the issue to the company but claims he had not heard a thing more than a day later.
However, Costa Coffee states that it takes food hygiene 'extremely seriously' and incidents like these are 'unacceptable'.
A Costa Coffee spokesperson said: "At Costa Coffee we take food hygiene extremely seriously and incidents like these are unacceptable.
"We have robust cleaning and hygiene procedures in place and our franchise partner, who owns and operates the store, have taken immediate action. We have responded to the customer to apologise for their experience."
Have you ever experienced something similar? Let us know in the comments.
