A MODEL has told how her screaming mother opened a bag of Aldi microwavable rice – and thought there was a snake inside.
It turned out the petrified customer had mistaken a piece of plastic inside the packet which bore a remarkable resemblance to snake skin.
Elesha Eden, 22, a dancer and model from Eastleigh, Hampshire, shared pictures of the rice to Facebook on Monday, tagging Aldi in the process.
She said: “Omg! I’ve just run in the kitchen to mum screaming that there was a snake in the rice!
“It turned out to be a long snake patterned piece of plastic thank god but definitely isn’t acceptable.”
Images show the bag of 45p rice from Aldi does appear to have a long piece of plastic which Elesha says was half the length of the bag it was in.
There are also pictures of the rice emptied from the packet into a bowl, which show it seems to have become intertwined with the rice.
Another shot shows the back of the packet, with a best before date of ‘4/07/20.’
Elesha’s post attracted many comments from Facebook users who appeared to be repulsed by what she had found.
Frank Garvock said: “It would put me off.”
Terry Alan Reekie commented: “It does look a little like snake skin. Yuck.”
Christine Young commented: “Email customer service with attached photos. Maybe they have to recall the product. Definitely let them know.”
Ed Melville said: “Yuck.”
Andy Park said: “You should put in a claim. They should pay out for that.”
Speaking today couldn’t believe what she found and was not happy with the £10 compensation she received.
She said: “Mum squished the bag and wondering what was going on.
“She thought is was a snake, she was screaming at me and I was brave enough to take it.
“It was about six inches, half the length of the packet, it was all plastic, there was hardly any rice.
“£10 was offered to me, but that wasn’t enough considering how big the plastic was.”
She also says that she won’t be buying the product from Aldi again.
She added: “I bought several others, but I’ve been put off the other packets.
“I hope it was a one off, but I probably won’t be buying them.”
Aldi confirmed they had been in contact with Elesha and that they are looking into the incident.
A spokesman said: “We have apologised to Ms Eden for this isolated incident and asked her to return the product to store for a refund.
“Our supplier has robust quality checks in place and is further investigating this matter.”
