A mum was left horrified when she was forced to discard of half her shopping after she finding insects in an Aldi ready meal she had purchased for her toddler. Hannah Johnson, 31 said she was left with no option but to thoroughly clean her Cheshire home after the nasty encounter on October 9.
She reported that the insects were nestled between two 85p pots of Mamia Organic Bolognese pasta bake which are baby meals suitable for toddlers aged 12 months and over. The disgusted woman immediately phoned the supermarket to complain and received an Aldi voucher worth the price of her shop, the Daily Star reports.
She also informed Cheshire East Council who are now additionally carrying out their own investigation on the matter. "It was a massive shock," said Hannah, who had bought the 85p meals for her son Louie.
"I was just in a bit of a rush, and I picked three or four of them up and put them in the trolley." At the till, Hannah noticed some bugs - which she described as being "small, brown" and "wasp-like" - on a steak she had picked up.
She says she left it with a check-out worker. "She (the check-out worker) was mortified, but obviously we didn’t see the full extent of it as it was just one or two of these things," said Hannah.
"I got in the car, and I noticed I had some bugs on my sleeve as well. I shook them off and thought nothing of it until I started unpacking the shopping in the house. They were all over my shopping in the bag, so I had to throw loads out, deep clean the house and myself.
''It wasn’t a nice day. I didn’t want to eat anything after that."
Hannah continued: "I tried to ring the store because my main concern was that it was a baby product, and if you are rushing you don’t notice things, especially if you’ve got your little one with you." She said customer services were "very apologetic and friendly."
On Tuesday (October 11), Aldi offered Hannah £40 in vouchers to cover the cost of her shopping. The mum says she is still unsure what the insects were.
She added: "Some had turned into flies. A lot of them were dead, but some were still living. It was really strange."
An Aldi spokesperson said: "Although very rare, incidents like this can occasionally occur if the packaging is damaged at any point before the product is consumed.
"We have apologised to Ms Johnson for her experience and have offered her a full refund.” A Cheshire East Council spokesperson said: "We can confirm that we have received a complaint from a member of the public and we have visited the store in question and spoken with the customer. We are investigating in conjunction with the primary authority for the store and, therefore, cannot make any further comment."
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