Gherkins are a food that divides the nation - you either love them, or you hate them.
But what's the worst thing that could possibly happen when you're chomping down on pickles?
Bet you didn't envisage accidentally biting into maggots.
But that's exactly what happened to Esther Clayfield, who was 'mortified' when she accidentally ate putrid pickles which were purchased from a local Lidl along with her girlfriend.
"I was horrified, it was so disgusting," said the 27-year-old. "Especially because I ate loads of them. I was absolutely mortified.”
Cardiff-based Esther purchased the 73p Freshona pickled cornichons along with a tub of coleslaw and a Lidl Deluxe quiche from the Colchester Avenue store in the Welsh capital.
It's usualy where she does her weekly shop - although that won't be the case from now on.
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"I was snacking on the gherkins, and they were fine," explained Esther. "I was biting them in half and then eating them, but one of them I ate whole and it was soft.
"It tasted funny, it just didn’t taste great, but I didn't think anything of it, I just thought it was fine and maybe it wasn’t fresh or something."
It wasn’t until her girlfriend helped herself that the true horror unfolded.
Esther continued: "She bit into it and she was like, 'I think there's like a maggot in there'.
“I was like 'Shut up - don't be silly'. I just didn't think anything of it.
“But then I got it and cut it open and that was when I saw it, all of these maggots. They were quite big, I think they were dead.
“My girlfriend was almost being sick everywhere. We started going through the gherkins one-by-one and they were full of maggots. Some were quite chunky and some were a bit smaller.
"The maggots were just absolutely everywhere."
Yuck!
To add insult to injury, a couple of days later Esther noticed a quiche bought in the same shop was growing white, fluffy mould.
Esther clocked the sickening spots when she went to put the spinach, red pepper and feta tart into the oven.
She contacted Lidl through their website and on social media, but is struggling to get a response from the budget supermarket chain.
Esther said: “I sent them a Twitter DM and they didn't reply, then I posted on Facebook and they didn't reply to me there.
"Today, I've just got a response saying can you send us a DM again, but obviously I've already done that. So they're not really doing anything about it."
A Lidl spokesperson said: "We were very sorry to hear of this matter, as it is never our intention for a customer to be dissatisfied in any way.
"We work very closely with our suppliers to ensure that the products we sell are of the highest possible quality for our customers.
"We are, therefore, disappointed if our expected high standards were not met on this occasion.
"Following initial contact from the customer with our Customer Services team, the matter was immediately escalated to our Quality
"Assurance department who are carrying out an investigation and will keep the customer updated on the outcome."
What would you do if you accidentally ate maggots? Let us know in the comments.
