Mites in broccoli LIDLs - BEWARE!

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TL:DR: Please check your broccoli carefully before purchasing. Please let the staff know of there are tiny mites.

A few weeks ago DH (foodie) came home shopping and immediately started preparing dinner. He started chopping the broccoli, and there before him was various sizes of mites and tiny caterpillar things. We checked the other broccoli we bought, and was the same. The broccoli otherwise looked normal.

Returned to Lidls and complained, assuming it was a one off. They gave us a refund.

Ever since we check for mites before buying and purchased mite-free broccoli 2 or 3 times. They are very tiny, about the size of a pin head, brown with visible legs. Until today...more mites (not just a few either)...I told the staff but the other broccoli are still there. I feel bad for anyone buying them and not realising but I can only complain so many times and that is just 2 stores. So here I am trying to spread a word of warning.

I'm not sure if it's exclusive to Lidls so worth checking wherever you buy your broccoli from. I'm no ecologist so I don't know what these mite things are but there was enough and variety of them to make us go 🤢

i remember finding an earwig in my cauliflower
i always check closely now

buy frozen, no bugs and fresher

Well, the kale I got from Waitrose was filthy. I don’t often buy kale, and got some on a whim, but never again! It was only when I was trying to wash it that I realised that the dirt stuck in the whorls and curls is impossible to swill off. You’d have to get a toothbrush and scrub every nook and cranny. Threw the lot away in the end.

@maudelovesharold I always put mine on a Synthetics cycles before cooking. If you add a bit of Zoflora to the water it makes your farts smell flowery as a bonus.

All you have to do is soak it for a while in a bowl of water, the grit floats off. If not, soak it again then give it a good rinse under the tap.

People do say Lidls though dont they?

Ive heard people say that

Is it because many of the others have s on the end, Tescos, Sainsburys, Morrisons.

Technically Waitrose.

Asda and Aldi are not in the gang

Pretty standard for fresh broccoli, no? I've certainly seen mites on it loads of times (and I only shop at Waitrose and M&S daaahling). I buy frozen these days so the little critters are defo dead then boil off.

One of the reasons some Jewish people don’t eat broccoli-it’s impossible to wash completely.

A bug or two won’t hurt you, OP.

Oh, no need. They already do!

It's really not though. You can soak it in salt water.

What has happened to common sense?

Thank you - good to see some common sense…

Ok listen folks, I'm not talking about 'a bug or two', I'm talking about multiple hundreds or even thousands of them, possibly different species and life stages. I posted this to warn anyone who might not want this in their food.

If you don't mind this then with respect, please do disregard this whole thread and move on with your life 👌happy to hear other horror stories but the 'use your common sense' / 'don't you have anything bigger to worry about' isn't wholly helpful. I posted this to help people not be put down. Ta

Thousands 😆

Maybe “foodie” DH could have cooked up a new creation with all the bugs OP?

It really is usual to see fresh broccoli full of spider mites. Honestly. You've noticed this time, previous times you haven't. But they are often there. Lots and lots of them.

(switch to frozen)

I am now intrigued. Please shake the broccoli and take a pic!!! I’m not even mocking you, I’m now invested.

Thousands, different life cycles, different species

Op this sounds incredible 😆

Are you prone to massive hyperbole generally?!

You could do a salt soak to sort this. Mental what it draws out. I do it for allotment veg. Never bother with the supermarkets.

You should see the state of some of the wildlife that comes in with allotment fruit and vegetables.

Also bought broccoli from Lidl today and yes absolutely infested inside the packaging! I thought it was specs of mud at first until I looked closer. A few bugs I almost expect but this was completely covered!! Honestly so disgusting.

someone mentioned kale earlier - because I am a vegetarian middle class twat with an organic box delivery [feel free to petition Mumsnet for an eye roll response now] I regularly get quite earthy/needing to be washed kale.

but I also have a rabbit, to whom kale
is basically crack cocaine crossed with chocolate. so he gets all the grubby kale, don’t think to wash it. Makes
me wonder, is my bunny accidentally eating bugs? (I mean I do genuinely wonder - surely this must happen and herbivores guts must just be designed to deal with it?

feel free to petition Mumsnet for an eye roll response now

A laughing response would be good for genuinely funny comments. IDK the science but herbivores must ingest bugs all the time. I wonder why your organic kale is earthy though? I grow kale and what the slugs leave for me is clean.

We get all sorts in our veg, which comes from our allotment. The only reason you don’t see a lot more on supermarket veg is because they use lots of pesticides. Anything on your food will die during the cooking process anyway. Extra protein etc.

In the eighties when I went with my dad we used to soak the blackberries in salt water when we got home, that got all the bugs out.

I had exactly the same thing with some I got from Aldi earlier this week. Absolutely vile. 🤢