You never want to find these in your groceries
Finding a spider in your lettuce is definitely not the kind of extra protein you need.
From snails to mould and maggots, customers all around Australia are sharing their negative supermarket experiences on social media.
Recently, Sydney woman Zoe Perry claimed to have found a large arachnid scuttling through her Woolworths pre-packaged salad. She filmed the horrifying incident and put it on Facebook, where it was shared and liked widely.
Scroll down to see the dodgy products
This came after the Nanna’s Berries Hepatitis A scandal in 2015, and more recently, the latest salmonella outbreak linked to supermarket pre-packaged salads.
A quick scroll through the supermarket giants’ Facebook pages revealed similar claims to Ms Perry’s, the authenticity of which The New Daily did not individually verify.
Kya Sofoulis from Warnbro, Western Australia claimed to have got the shock of her life when she reportedly found tiny little grubs slithering through her snacks.
“I purchased the Coles brand sultana and apple snacks for work. I noticed the maggots on my fourth pack! It was horrible!” Ms Sofoulis said.
“I had a small amount in my hand when I looked down to see something wriggling. I think my face turned white and I instantly felt sick.”
She said she had already eaten three packets and when she checked the other unopened packets, she found more slimy maggots.
Another unhappy Coles customer posted an image of hair allegedly baked into her ‘fresh’ bread. A Woolworths shopper uploaded a snapchat of what she claimed was a snail in her grapes. And an Aldi customer complained about mouldy bread.
Coles responded by encouraging customers to notify the store of any complaints.
“Coles serves more than 20 million customers across Australia every week and we pride ourselves on the quality of our fresh food. In any instance where we fall short of our own high standards, we encourage customers to bring the product and receipt back to our stores for a full refund or replacement,” a spokesman said.
Woolworths urged The New Daily to provide contact details for the customers who posted to its Facebook page.
“Thanks for bringing these to our attention. We always want to provide our customers with the best quality fresh food. If The New Daily would like to provide Woolworths with the customers’ details we are very happy to follow up with them directly,” a spokesman said.
Aldi’s spokesperson said the company was committed to providing safe products, reacting quickly to customer complaints and monitoring “any potential trends”.
“If a product sold in an Aldi store does not meet our stringent quality specifications, we have a strict quality assurance policy to address any issue as soon as possible and will always remove any product from sale if it is identified as a risk to our customers.”
Is contaminated food on the rise?
Finding maggots in her sultanas has turned Ms Sofoulis away from purchasing Coles brand products.
“As a regular Coles shopper, I do feel concerned purchasing their brand, yes. I won’t be doing it again. I feel disappointed purchasing a food that has been contaminated and could have caused illness to myself and others,” she said.
Even though it seems as though reported lapses in Good Manufacturing Practice are on the rise, food safety experts say this is not a new occurrence.
Dr Ajlouni said Australia had strict regulations for preventing insects and harmful bacteria infesting your salad.