A mum has told how baby food she bought from Aldi was infested with bugs that had spread across the rest of her shopping in a bag and even began crawling across her kitchen table while she was unpacking.
Hannah Johnson, spoke of her "massive shock" in finding the insects in the ready meals she had bought for her 23-month-old son Louie at the supermarket, in Holmes Chapel, reported CheshireLive.
It was when she was taking her shopping out the bag last Sunday that she said she noticed the bugs that were coming from two pots of Mamia organic bolognese pasta bake for toddlers.
She also claimed the bugs were covering her other shopping and had started to crawl across her kitchen table.
Hannah says she immediately contacted Aldi, who offered her a refund for her shopping, while also reported the matter to Cheshire East Council, which is now investigating.
"It was a massive shock," said Hannah. " 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 "small, brown" and "wasp-like" bugs on a steak she had picked up and so she left it behind with a member of staff.
"She 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.
"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."
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.
"I was worried that someone might not notice, like I hadn’t at first, and 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."
Then last Tuesday, Aldi offered Hannah £40 in vouchers to cover the cost of her shopping.
Hannah says she doesn't know what where the type of insects.
"I’ve tried to figure it out, but I’m not sure if they’re from the UK or not," 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 told CheshireLive: "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 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."
