A Tesco shopper realised her seafood spread had "turned fizzy" and was six months out of date - after she took a bite of her cracker.
Gemma Read was looking forward to enjoying the supermarket's sandwich filler that she had purchased on September 9.
But on taking a bite she noticed the prawn dish tasted distinctly off.
She then took a closer look and was repulsed at the sight of it being "slightly mouldy" and "fizzy", CambridgeshireLive reports.
“I had it with some crackers and I thought 'this doesn’t taste right' so I put another bit in my mouth,” she said.
“It was almost fizzy. It was like coleslaw when it goes off.”
She then took a closer look at the packaging and noticed the use-by date was March 22, despite buying it on September 9.
Gemma called Tesco customer service and the Fulbourn branch she purchased it from, but claims they could not offer an explanation as to how that happened, even after showing them a receipt as proof.
“I wasn’t offered a refund, just a £10 voucher, but I don’t feel like I’ve had an answer as to how that was possible, how something like prawn could have been left for six months,” she said.
Gemma said she was "worried all day that I was going to get ill" before adding that "if I’d given it to my partner, he would have eaten it completely because he eats everything."
A Tesco spokesperson said: “We appreciate the concern this would have caused Gemma, we have spoken to her and we are sorry this has happened.
“Our colleagues carry out rigorous and regular checks for stock rotation to ensure items that have passed their use-by date are removed from the shop floor.
“We are investigating with the store to find out exactly how this could have happened.”
