A woman has warned people to check their Tesco Bolognese sauce, after finding what she believes to be maggots in two separate jars after a food shop gone wrong.
Mum Rosina James from Wareham bought two jars of the sauce from her local Tesco Extra at the end of November, but by the time it came to using the products on Monday December 12 she quickly noticed that something was wrong after cracking one of the jars open.
Speaking to Dorset Live, she said: “I poured a small amount into a sauce pan, and I saw something, thinking ‘what are those?’”
Read more: North East drivers can save £5 on their next visit to the petrol station
She added: "I’d recently seen pictures of someone who saw maggots in their baked beans and thought it looked a bit similar, I wasn’t too sure. I left the sauce to the side and put it on Facebook asking people what it is. I asked Tesco on social media but they didn’t get back to me.
"I obviously decided not to eat it.”
One of Rosina's friends suggested picking out one of the creatures, before drying it off and looking closely. She did so and the photos she took afterwards make for unpleasant viewing.
The tomato sauce stained image of what she believes to be several deceased maggots or fly larvae, was rapidly shared to social media in a bid to warn other people. She added: "They’re dead in the jar, but it really does put you off your food doesn’t it. I’ve asked Tesco to recall it, I don’t want compensation, I’m asking that they make sure no one’s kids eat that.
“We might already be eating this stuff, but once we know it’s there let’s not feed it to people.”
Rosina said that Tesco told her that they wouldn't be issuing a product recall until she returned the jar to the store of purchase, which she is able to do on Saturday. While waiting for the weekend to come, she in-turn took to her cupboard to check the other jar she bought on her shopping trip out of curiosity.
And the second jar also seemed to contain similar contaminations. They were visible through the glass of the second jar, and could be seen floating. It turns out that the second jar was also manufactured just one minute apart from her first, according to the label.
After posting her ordeal to Facebook, a second woman has also reported facing the same issue.
A Tesco spokesperson, responding to the claims of the maggots, said: “We were very sorry to hear this and have been in touch with the customer to apologise. The health and safety of our customers is our number one priority and we are investigating this as a priority with our supplier.
"We have stringent hygiene standards in place for all of our manufacturers and will be in touch with the customer once our investigation is complete.”
Read next:
- Families ready to scale back Christmas celebrations by shopping at cheaper supermarkets and even charging guests
- Warning as Christmas posting deadlines brought forward over Royal Mail strikes
- North East postcodes now due two DWP Cold Weather Payments
- Facebook support group 'overwhelmed' by demand for crisis payments
- Tax warning as thousands could be hit with HMRC fine with deadline looming
