Supermarket giant Woolworths has denied responsibility for a Queensland couple who were left dry-reaching and distressed after finding maggots in their dinner.
Ffion Veselinovic reportedly told The Courier Mail she was just sitting down to eat when she saw her husband, Shaun, staring at maggots floating in his bowl.
“We both stopped eating of course, and at that point I was dry-retching,” she said.
“The heating of the tomato juice seemed to have brought them all to the surface, and they were all floating.”
Mrs Veselinovic said there were around 50 dead maggots found in the meal that her husband had already begun eating.
She also said her husband began suffering from stomach pain not long after and that he did not eat for 24 hours following the meal.
How did the maggots get into the meatballs?
Mrs Veselinovic said she had been shopping at the Springfield Central Woolworths earlier where she bought minced meat used to make the meatballs, which became part of the allegedly maggot-infested dish.
The store manager requested that she bring in a sample of the mince so that an investigation could be launched into the incident.
“They said the investigation was completed at the store and nothing was found. They said that they think the issue came from the curry powder container. Moth larvae, apparently,” she said.
Mrs Veselinovic also dismissed the supermarket’s claims that it could have been the breadcrumbs she also used in the meal.
Woolworths denies responsibility
“We have conducted our investigations and found no issues with our in-store process and controls,” stated a spokesperson from Woolworths.
“Additionally, we have had no other complaints. The mince was not the source of the maggots.”
A Woolworths store gift card was offered to the couple as compensation, however Mrs Veselinovic said it was not enough.