A mum was left horrified after finding a dead lizard at the bottom of her Aldi shopping bag.
The reptile, described as a "dried-up dead lizard", was found inside the brand new reusable Aldi bag after the family's shopping was unpacked.
The woman, who asked not to be named, had purchased the bag at the supermarket's Castle Bromwich store in Birmingham, and said the incident left her children "screaming", Birmingham Live reports.
"I picked up a few bits and bobs around £30 worth of shopping. And I got one of those reusable bags and because I was running late to pick the kids up from school I quickly put the shopping in the bag," the mum said.
"I saw something in it but I thought it was a piece of cardboard or something and didn't really pay too much attention to it. I went home and didn't get out of the car, my son got the shopping out of the boot for me as I had to go straight off.
"I went to pick my brother up from work and my husband called me to ask me where I got the shopping from. I told him it was Aldi and then he asked where I got the bag from as we have a few at home.
"I said that I bought it there and asked him why he wanted to know? He then sent me pictures of what he found and I thought oh my God. I asked where the shopping was and he'd put it away so I told him to bin it all."
The woman was afraid the shopping had been contaminated by the bits of dried-up animal in the bag, and not only chucked the food she had purchased in the bin, but spent an hour cleaning.
The mum then contacted Aldi customer services after making the discovery on Wednesday, June 15, and was offered just £3.59 in a compensation voucher. However, Aldi have since offered her a £100 voucher for the stress and upset caused.
The woman said she hopes a similar incident won't happen again, especially after her five-year-old daughter was left in tears at the site of the animal.
"Obviously this looks like a lizard and I don't know the background or nature of it or whether it could be dangerous," she said. "I got back home and had to bleach the entire kitchen - my younger kids were terrified of it as they've never seen something like that in this country before."
She added: "I contacted the customer services team and sent them pictures of the bag and my receipt. I then got an email from them the following day saying they wanted the pictures sent again, so I did that.
"And then they offered me a £3.59 voucher, which I thought was a joke and insulting. I replied and said thank you for the offer but I threw away £20 worth of food and spent money on cleaning products so £3.59 is nothing compared to that.
"But aside from that it petrified my children when they saw that thing. You don't see things like that in this country. My five-year-old was screaming.
"I didn't make a complaint for the money but wanted to make them aware that wherever they're making the bags from this thing has come with it.
"They need to be more careful with things like that. It was breaking up in the bag so could have touched any of my food."
The mum then received a call from the Aldi head office on Friday, June 17. She said: "I then spoke to someone from head office who apologised for the experience and they offered me a £100 voucher.
"My whole point was for them to realise what was going on and they said they contacted the store and will do health and safety checks and provide training.
"I mentioned that the bags weren't made in the store and so it could have happened at any store so the problem must have come from where they got the bags from - probably a different country. It was shocking to find something like that in the bottom of your shopping bag."
An Aldi spokesperson said: "Our supplier has robust processes in place meaning incidents like this are extremely rare. We have apologised for any inconvenience caused as our usual high standards were not met on this occasion."
