A ‘horrified and shocked’ Lidl customer claims she discovered fly eggs lurking in their sushi – leaving her fearing maggots would hatch inside her body.
Megan Janes bought the £4.99 Raku salmon lovers 10-piece sushi box from Lidl in Wantage, Oxfordshire, on July 27.
The 28-year-old says she’d eaten around eight of the salmon pieces before she discovered what she believes were fly eggs.
After instantly retching, she stopped eating the sushi straightaway and kept the leftovers in her kitchen as evidence.
The field sales manager, from Oxford, claims the eggs hatched into ‘baby’ maggots the following day and described the thought of them wriggling inside as her ‘worst fear’.
After complaining to Lidl she received a £10 coupon to be redeemed in-store, and the budget supermarket apologised that their ‘high standards were not met’.
But Ms Janes is not planning to use it any time soon, as she claims she’s been put off shopping there in future.
She said: ‘I was horrified and I was so shocked, it was quite surreal. I’d got through the majority of the sushi and I tend to inspect each bit but I was hungover and not really with it.
Lidl has apologised after customer Megan Janes claimed she ate ‘fly eggs’ lurking in their sushi – leaving her fearing maggots would hatch inside her
Megan Janes bought the £4.99 Raku salmon lovers 10-piece sushi box from Lidl in Wantage, Oxfordshire, on July 27
‘I hadn’t really paid attention too much but something caught my eye, it was a big cluster of [eggs].
‘I said to my boyfriend “something doesn’t look right about this”. He said “it’s fine, it’s just seeds” and I said “no, it’s definitely not seeds”.
‘When you get ready-to-go food you just don’t expect that to be in there. It immediately made me heave and feel sick to my stomach.’
After searching online as to what it may be, Ms Janes said she was instructed to stop eating the sushi ‘right away’.
‘On Tuesday morning the eggs had flattened because the insects were now out of these eggs and crawling out of the fish and the rice,’ she continued.
‘I was scared the insects might be growing or hatching inside me, that’s what I was really worried about.’
Ms Janes said her boyfriend tried to calm her down by reassuring her that the stomach acid in her body would kill any potential insects.
But she said it did nothing to alleviate her fears.
She added: ‘I felt like it was like a bushtucker trial. I remember watching I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here once and seeing one of the insects get stuck inside the contestant’s ear or nose.
The 28-year-old says she’d eaten around eight of the salmon pieces before ‘something’ caught her eye and was horrified to discover a cluster of what she believes were fly eggs
‘I’ve always thought that’s my worst fear to have insects in places they shouldn’t be so to have that was almost like having one of my biggest fears come true.
‘The past few days have been horrible, I’ve been waiting for some form of disease. I’ve been lucky that I’ve not been terrible – I’ve had a dodgy stomach and stomach cramps.’
After sending multiple emails and photos to Lidl, Ms Janes received a £10 coupon.
Ms Janes said: ‘It’s put me off shopping at Lidl again. It’s my main food shop as well, it’s not ideal for me obviously.
‘It’s not something I’d like to think is common. I wouldn’t necessarily want to scare people off of it but [I would say] definitely be careful.
A spokesperson from Lidl GB said: ‘At Lidl GB, we work closely with our suppliers to ensure all products meet strict quality standards.
‘While rare, damage to outer packaging can sometimes occur, which can lead to product deterioration.
‘We were very sorry to learn that on this occasion our high standards were not met, and can confirm that both a refund and a goodwill gesture have now been issued to the customer.’
A spokesperson for Taiko Foods, who creates the Raku range, said: ‘Taiko Foods operates to the highest standards of food safety and hygiene. We have fully investigated this matter, and we are entirely satisfied that there was no product contamination within the manufacturing process.’
