A mum had a "massive shock" after a ready meal she bought for her 23-month-old son was infested with bugs.
Hannah Johnson returned home from the Aldi store in Holmes Chapel on October 9 when she noticed insects when unpacking her shopping. The 31-year-old spotted the "strange", unidentified bugs between two pots of Mamia organic bolognese pasta bake for toddlers - some of which were "still living".
The mum, who bought the 85p ready meal for her son Louie, said some bugs had spilled out onto the rest of her big shop, some of which she was forced to throw away. While some crawled across her kitchen table, Hannah contacted Aldi to complain, CheshireLive reports.
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Hannah, who also reported the matter to Cheshire East Council, said: "It was a massive shock. 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 said she noticed some "small, brown and wasp-like" bugs on a steak she had picked up, but she left it with the check-out worker. She added: "She was mortified, but obviously we didn’t see the full extent of it as it was just one or two of these things.
"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. As I was unpacking these ready-meals on the side, I noticed some living ones fall off and start crawling across my table.
"They were all over other 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."
The concerned mum said she tried to call the store after being concerned it was a baby product and was worried "someone might not notice". She said: "God forbid that a child eats it. That call went through to their main customer service line. The person I spoke to was lovely, very apologetic and friendly, but that was the resolution, a five-pound voucher."
However, on Tuesday, October 11, Aldi offered Hannah £40 in vouchers to cover the cost of her shopping. Hannah says she cannot identify the insects she found in the pots and is unsure if they originate from the UK.
She said: "Some look like larvae, some look like woodlice, and I think it’s more than one species. 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 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 added: "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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