Horrified woman finds worms in Tesco chicken

A mum says she found worms spilling out of a Tesco roast chicken before the supermarket 'fobbed' her off with a £20 voucher. Freya Hill was preparing to stuff a roast chicken for her and her partner's Sunday lunch.

The 31-year-old removed the chicken from its packaging to fill with lemon and butter when she says she spotted two 'worms' spilling out of the meat. T he mum-of-one closely inspected the poultry and claims it was 'filthy' and covered in seeds.

Freya, who bought the chicken from Tesco Extra in Sandhurst, Berkshire for £3.40 days earlier, contacted Tesco's customer service team. The assistant manager contacted the supermarket chain again after declining a £10 goodwill voucher - believing her complaint was 'brushed under the carpet'.

This was then upped to £20, which Freya accepted, but the mum insists her concerns were about safety rather than compensation. Freya said the experience has put her off buying chicken from Tesco again - and left her paranoid about thoroughly checking meat before cooking in future.

Tesco said they were 'sorry' and that they were investigating with their supplier. Freya, from Frimley, Surrey, said: "I bought the chicken to have for our Sunday lunch. We've never had any issues with anything bought from Tesco.

"I went to stuff the chicken with lemon and butter in it then saw a maggoty thing. I noticed the chicken was a grey colour. I said to my partner 'this isn't right, come look at this'. Then we looked at it and saw the mealworm and all these seeds.

"We saw two of the worms, they weren't moving, there maybe could've been more in there. I was really grossed out, we didn't cook it. From what I saw, it literally looked like the chicken had been dropped on the floor and it had picked up all the feed.

"The outside and inside was filthy. It was gross, you can see seeds stuck to it. It was quite horrific to have that on the chicken. You trust these supermarkets to produce nice quality food."

"Money really wasn't the issue, it was about there maybe being others out there. I wasn't complaining to get a refund or compensation. I won't be buying chickens from Tesco again. I think they just fobbed me off and brushed it under the carpet.

"It's definitely made me paranoid about checking chickens in the future. I've not bought one since."

A Tesco spokesperson said: “We’re sorry to hear about this. We work closely with our suppliers to ensure there are robust quality procedures in place, and all our products are thoroughly checked throughout the production process.

"In a situation like this we encourage customers to return the product to store for a full refund and so our team can fully investigate the complaint.”