A HORRIFIED shopper found a dead insect in a prepared salad she bought at a high-end supermarket.
The disgusted customer spotted a colourful moth in her bag of Marks and Spencer spinach – despite claims on the packet it was specially “washed in spring water”.
The woman, who does not wish to be named, had already eaten half the bag of premium salad before she discovered the foreign insect.
The unwelcome moth.
She has now contacted the supermarket chain to claim compensation after purchasing the spinach at Glasgow Central station.
M&S have apologised over the bug appearing in the 240g bag.
She said: “I found this huge fellow in my bag of ‘freshly washed in spring water’ spinach.
“It was disgusting – I keep imagining its special wing dust being all over the spinach leaves I’ve already eaten.
“It’s a joke, you pay more for premium salads because you trust that they will wash them properly, and in the most pure way possible.
“I would certainly like some serious apology vouchers from Marks & Spencer.”
Paul Kirkland, director of Butterfly Conservation Scotland, indentified the creature as a common large yellow underwing moth. He said it looked “very worn.”
He added: “We assume it got into the pack during packing.
“I’m not sure how rare moths are in salad – maybe they are not often noticed!”
The spinach comes at a premium.
An M&S spokesperson said: “We are really sorry to hear about our customer’s spinach. Quality is really important to us, so we’ve asked the customer to send us the spinach and packaging as soon as possible so we can investigate further.”
Last month an English mum-of-three found a live frog in a bag of salad bought at a Hampshire branch of Waitrose.
In 2010 a female shopper discovered a live giant grasshopper in a salad bag bought at Tesco in Sussex.
In 2011 a man from Somerset said his family found a dead bird in a prepared salad he bought at a Tesco supermarket and served for dinner.
