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

[BobbleHat102]

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!!).

I’ve lost count of the amount of little critters I’ve had in fruit and veg. I just rehome them or swill them down the sink. It’s the downside of eating fruit and veg- there is always the potential for some ummmm added protein 😂

I bit into a snail in a microwave meal last year- the cruch of shell in my mouth was worse than egg shell and still makes me cringe now. I direct messaged the supermarket on Twitter (it was Christmas Eve evening after lots of food prep and present wrapping for the next day) to alert them that they may want to check their supplier. I didn't complain but they were lovely, got back to me almost immediately (I was not expecting that!) and gave me a £15 voucher. It did put me off ready meals containing vegetables!

I also felt sorry for the poor garden snail!

MrsWobble3 that is literally the best thing I’ve read in a long time 😂

And your little baby nearly ate them too

^compensation culture in action.

No, no they didn’t.
Because seemingly a bite tasted weird (although it turned into a mouthful later in the op) so they looked - they were ABOUT TO mash it for their baby. They did NOT do that. No babies were harmed by the non ingestion of non mashed sweet corn that they didn’t go any where near.

Ffs

This was frozen sweetcorn which is processed in a factory. To me that makes it different to fresh fruit and veg where there is a reasonable expectation that you need to wash/examine it prior to eating as it is straight from a field (well straight-ish). £50 might be too much but £5-£10 would be proportionate to the distress and inconvenience of going back to the store.

Mind you I’m still annoyed at Cauldron foods. Two packs of tofu straight out the shelf ready packaging where they were next to each other. Opened one at home to find what I thought was stringy melted plastic from the wrap seal. Pulled the plastic off to find it was a long blonde hair running through the seal and embedded in to the tofu. So I opened the second pack to find the rest of the hair embedded through the seal with mould growing around it where it touched the product. Couldn’t take it back as I don’t live near town plus both packs were now opened and the tofu sits in water so it wasn’t really practical. Mailed Cauldron with all the details, batch code etc and pictures. They sent me an (e form) to fill in with practically the same info I had already shared in the mail but on their template, which I did. They then mailed me again for another photo. Before refunding me just the cost of the tofu. I am really not grabby but for no tea, time spent on multiple mails to suit their requirements and the yuck of hair meshed in tofu they could have at least refunded and replaced.

How disgusting. I can't rtt I'm never buying frozen sweetcorn again, if I read other pp's food horror stories I won't be able to eat the products either.
I don't think yabu. I'd have a fit if I tasted it, dramatic to some probably, it would really effect me I've enough phobias around food.

I think people forget that vegetables are natural products. If there is wildlife on them it means they haven't been nuked to death by chemicals. I found a stone in my chickpeas once. It was the size and colour of a chickpea, and I could've broken a tooth! Prison for them. At the very least.

I think a new bag of maggot free sweet corn and an apology suffice

People are incredibly precious. The supplier will probably now look to using stronger insecticide. Great for the environment.

Nice one.

Who do you think is at fault here? Tesco, for not x-raying the sweetcorn prior to sale? The farmer, for not using enough pesticide to kill the creatures? What do you want to be the outcome of your claim (apart from you being fifty quid up)??

I complained about packaging being broken on a 75p yoghurt yesterday and they refunded me 10£ so YADNBU

Who do you think is at fault here?

Well, in law it is Tesco's, under the rules of contract law and the Sale of Goods Act. They can make their own claim against their suppliers if they want to.

The ‘compensation culture’ makes me cringe a bit- however this is pretty gross. I think they should have offered more than a 79p refund. Assuming you can be bothered, I’d chase them for the outcome of their ‘investigation’.

Crikey a few little corn worms. And what had they been eating? Yes corn! Not exactly a major problem.
If it was a dead mouse I would be more inclined to be concerned 😂

Tesco. Not Tesco's.

I imagine they won't offer compensation until it's confirmed what was in the corn exactly and how it got there, when the investigation is complete. Otherwise they're admitting liability with no evidence really.

Compensation is probably the wrong word. I think an apology or recognising the op went through a horrible experience in way of a gift would go a long way here though. If in the op’s mind that is a 50 pound voucher then fine.

That’s repellent. You could get some compensation- I don’t think it’s unreasonable.

I think they probably will give you a voucher, just to maybe stop you going to the local paper? I think you generally do get some compensation from valid complaints, and maggots 🤮🤮. Hate maggots

We found maggots in some dried fruit once. We took it back to the shop and they refunded and then my mum wrote to the manufacturer and sent photos. We got the opposite of compensation - we got a letter back accusing us of lying, and then detailing their manufacturing processed that apparently proved that it was impossible for a maggot to be in the fruit!!

I’d expect more than my 79p back too but I had a similar experience with Tesco a few years ago when pregnant and I ate something that I’d bought the same day to discover it tasted awful and looked and it was mouldy and had been over 3 says past it’s sell by date.

I was fuming as it just seemed like a terrible example of poor quality control and food safety, and they didn’t take it seriously in the slightest

Compensation is probably the wrong word. I think an apology or recognising the op went through a horrible experience in way of a gift would go a long way here though. If in the op’s mind that is a 50 pound voucher then fine.

They did apologise and very nicely according to op, HQ phoned specifically to do this and told her they had opened an investigation with the supplier. Compensation is the right word, op is looking for cash and expecting £50 is grabby and ridiculous,

I represent the family of the deceased maggot.

Please convey my sincerest condolences to the maggot's parents. Mr and Mrs Bluebottle, and to his 15,000 siblings, who must be devastated by their untimely loss.