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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to expect compensation from Tesco after finding MAGGOTS in the sweetcorn?

124 replies

BobbleHat102 · 09/08/2019 14:38

Pretty much what is says in the title.

I bought a bag of frozen sweetcorn from Tesco. It looked normal when i poured some into the pan of boiling water. After a couple of minutes I took a bite to see if it was ready. It tasted a bit odd but I didn't think anything of it. Drained the pan and tipped it out.... maggots. Little white ones. They had obviously been inside the kernels prior to it being frozen.

Obviously I was straight down there to complain - very politely, obviously not the staff's fault. They were very nice, refunded my 79p and I got a call yesterday from Tesco HQ saying they were very sorry, maggots had been comfirmed and they had opened a full investigation with the supplier. They have promised to update me in three weeks. I stated my main concern was that clearly the whole batch was contaminated and that other people will have been affected too. The product was still on sale 3 days after my initial complaint, though I suppose it could have been from a different batch.

My AIBU is am I being reasonable to request a small amount in compensation- maybe £50 in tesco vouchers? I'm not physically affected, just very upset about it. I was about to mash the sweetcorn up and feed it to the baby, it will be a long time before I ever touch sweetcorn again. Rice is freaking me out too, because the grains look very similar to the little white maggots!

Am genuinely interested to know if I am being reasonable here, or just clouded by the emotional response to eating a mouthful of unexpected maggots (bleurgh!!).

OP posts:
SparklyMagpie · 09/08/2019 14:58

Shock your poor mum @Bunnybaubles that's shocking

VivaLeBeaver · 09/08/2019 14:58

I think a £5 or £10 voucher for petrol, etc would have been nice.

KOKOtiltomorrow · 09/08/2019 14:59

I’m on the fence. I took a chicken back to Asda once as it was off. I was only expecting a refund but they gave me another chicken and a £5 voucher. I would have thought Tesco would have done similar.

Original poster
BobbleHat102 · 09/08/2019 15:00

Nope, you're right I'm unharmed and thank you all for being straight with me. I haven't asked for any £s and was planning to say nothing on that front until they've finished the investigation.

The main issue is definitely the quality control problem at the supplier. Hopefully it will be fixed ASAP.

OP posts:
Bunglefromrainbow · 09/08/2019 15:01

I do think they'll probably offer/send you £5 as a thank you and an apology to be honest. I wouldn't expect anything though and do believe it is unreasonable to do so.

It's always worth remembering that food grows out in the wild, I've found allsorts in my time, it's just the nature of it. The worst though was rat poo in Mighty White bread (remember that?). That was nothing to do with where it was grown and everything to do with a dirty factory.

OtraCosaMariposa · 09/08/2019 15:01

Compensation for what financial loss? Yes they should refund the cost of the sweetcorn and do a bit of investigating. As a gesture of goodwill they would probably bung you a bottle of wine or a bouquet of flowers.

But financial compensation? No way.

Original poster
BobbleHat102 · 09/08/2019 15:02

@KOKOtiltomorrow - thats awful, you could have been really ill

OP posts:
Alienspaceship · 09/08/2019 15:02

People are so far detached from where our food comes from. Op, you know corn grows in fields and there’s wildlife there etc? This obsession with beautiful, clean, perfect food in lots of packaging does nothing to help our environment in terms of wasted ‘imperfect’ food, use of insecticides etc.
No, I don’t expect to find worms in my food. So I’d expect to take it back and get a replacement. End of.

Yeahnahmum · 09/08/2019 15:02

'Hi tesco. I bought an apple here last week. There was a worm in it. I want to be reimbursed for the apple.

Also: give me 50 pounds.'

😂

KittyMcKitty · 09/08/2019 15:05

What would you being compensated for?

m00rfarm · 09/08/2019 15:07

She ate maggots. SHE ATE MAGGOTS! I would definitely want compensation! What is wrong with you all!!!

Funguy · 09/08/2019 15:08

They are only little bags of sweetcorn.
Sorry you didn't get exciting greedy offers of money.

m00rfarm · 09/08/2019 15:08

If you get paid for eating maggots on I'm A Celebrity, I would definitely want some recompense ...

VivaLeBeaver · 09/08/2019 15:09

I got raspberries from Tesco once, bit into a big juicy one and there was a horrible crunch. Big, dead bluebottle in it! I hate flies, like nearly phobic of them.

Readytogogogo · 09/08/2019 15:12

I don't think you are unreasonable. It's disgusting and you could have easily eaten some by accident. It's also inconvenienced you. You'll be lucky though, I only got a £3 Morrison's voucher for very mouldy fresh pasta, that I only spotted as I was emptying into the saucepan...

Zaphodsotherhead · 09/08/2019 15:16

As long as they were boiled, it's fine. (See also: wasp in lasagne, currently ongoing).

EdWinchester · 09/08/2019 15:19

God I hate this compensation culture.

Why would £50 help? It’s so grabby.

Tonnerre · 09/08/2019 15:23

Generally I have no problem with businesses like this being expected to pay compensation when they foul up, and I think there is some ridiculous misinformation floating around MN and elsewhere about the whole issue of entitlement to damages for negligence.

However, it does seem to me that expecting £50 is a major overestimate of your loss, which essentially comes down to some inconvenience and shock. They may send you something like that to get rid of you, but I wouldn't complain if they just send you a tenner or something similar.

BarbaraofSeville · 09/08/2019 15:23

Just checking OP, how do you know this problem happened at either the supplier/packaging place or supermarket rather than in your freezer?

Maggots suggest that the product has been defrosted at some point. Have you kept them in your freezer for any length of time or did you buy and use them straight away?

So, there could have been a production problem (unlikely - quality control is very strict).

Or, the bag could have been allowed to defrost in the shop, for example by someone removing it from the freezer and putting it back some time later - also quite unlikely, if staff find something out of the freezer, they should bin it. Of course a customer might have put it back, but I would have thought it would have had to be out for a while for maggots to develop.

Or, have you had a power cut or problem with your freezer, is there any evidence of maggots in anything else in your freezer? Worth checking before assuming it's a Tesco or supplier problem, which it could be of course.

A good tip I read somewhere is to have ice in your freezer, maybe in one of those bottles where you put the water in, let it fill all the little holes and then freeze. Once frozen, rotate the bottle so the ice is at the top. The if your freezer is ever off long enough for the ice to melt, you'll know and should probably consider binning the food, unless you know that the defrost is within the last few hours.

FFSFFSFFS · 09/08/2019 15:23

Compensation for distress and inconvenience is common is all consumer dispute resolution processes.

It is a recognised head of damage - for quite obvious and justifiable reasons. A monetary payment is the best solution to compensate for d&i.

Of course you're not being unreasonable

Bettyboopityboop · 09/08/2019 15:25

YANBU.

People here are disgusting. Why shouldn't Tesco be liable for putting something in someone's food that wasn't agreed to? Why is money more valued than a customer's mental health? If you found out that someone shat in your food after you took a bite, you would be sick. Companies need to be fined so that they introduce better health inspections. Stop being idiots.

flouncyfanny · 09/08/2019 15:27

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

gerispringer · 09/08/2019 15:28

It’s horrible and you were right to draw it to their attention, but definitely not worthy of “.compensation”. If a neighbour had given you some veg from his garden and they turned out a bit mouldy would you expect him to give you money for the “distress”?

itsaboojum · 09/08/2019 15:29

The likelihood is that, if there is any fault at all with the product, the supermarket will trigger a contract clause that forces the producer to pay for the loss. Supermarkets do not like taking risk: so they dump as much as possible on the guy who does the actual work.

So, each 79p bag of corn will earn the grower around 4p, if they’re exceptionally lucky, and then cost them £50 in compensations.

Thanks for doing your bit for the farmers.

Cultural delicacies aside, you do realise a large proportion of the human population would regard this as an essential source of protein, don’t you?

IWouldLikeToSeeTheseMangoes · 09/08/2019 15:30

Agree with you bettyboopityboop this is vile! I'd be horrified this would give me severe anxiety some people are really phobic of insects/germs. Not grabby at all for money but think it's the least a shop could do for selling food contaminated with maggots. That the OP ate a bit of! Poor you Sad