ALDI has apologised after disgusted customers opened boxes of catfood and founnd them crawling with maggots.
Two customers posted revolting images to social media of multipacks of Vitacat pouches which were infested with maggots.
Mum Molly Warrilow, from Birmingham, discovered the infestation three days after purchasing her cat food for an Aldi store in the city on November 12.
Another customer, Anthony Hall, whose location is not presently known, bought the same product the following day and discovered it was in an identical condition.
Molly, 21, took to Aldi’s Facebook page to complain: “Done a shop at Aldi on Tuesday 12th November and spent seventy odd pounds in there.
“Came to open a box of cat food on Friday 15th November to be greeted to a disgusting, foul smell and to find the entire box, pouches and lid riddled in maggots.”
She added: “So I’d avoid going to Aldi and buying the VITACAT food pouches, in case it happens to you and like me you have to throw most your food away to only be offered an apology and a £10 gift voucher.”
Mr Hall also posted photos of maggot infested cat food which he claims he bought from Aldi.
He posted today (tues): “Check your cat food, guys, I’ve sent a full complaint to head office! These insects could spread to other food items and could also cause problems to your cats!”
The photos Molly posted show a pile of maggots squirming over leaked cat food inside the cardboard box with what appears to be maggot trails staining the box.
Other photos show the pouches sitting in the box covered in what appears to be maggots.
A final image shows the maggot covered pouches sitting in the box with the logo Vitacat visible from the packaging.
Anthony posted similar images showing maggots surrounding his cat food.
One close up photo even shows an insect with wings feasting on the food.
The images have horrified many in the comments who have experienced similar problems with the cat food brand.
Sophie Booker said: “Did it smell like a really strong smell of like mouldy cat p***? My box smelt disgusting was making me heave I threw them away couldn’t touch the box. There weren’t no bugs or anything just the horrid smell.”
Alice Libonatti added: “I bought cat food pouches and found like hard rubber in them. Like actually in the pouches. It was definitely like ripped up hard rubber. Nothing was done about it.”
Stephanie Harby wrote: “I’ve had the same before with these cat foods. I changed to the little pots for a while as the pouches was always bloated.”
Molly today she was left mortified by the discovery and has criticised Aldi for their handling of the incident.
Molly said: “As you can imagine I was mortified and felt physically sick, I was more concerned at the fact that I have a two-year-old child who is into everything and takes great pleasure in emptying out the cupboard. So I was highly relieved she didn’t find the box and manage to get it open to discover that!
“They [Aldi] were very apologetic at first, then once I explained what had happened the person just laughed and said this isn’t the first time he’s heard of it. They told me I could take my receipt into store and get a free box of cat food, but it’s not really free is it? As I paid for mine and it was no good.”
Aldi today confirmed they had apologised to Molly.
An Aldi spokesman said: “While incidents like this are rare, they can occasionally occur if packaging is damaged. We have apologised to Ms Warrilow for any inconvenience this may have caused.”
Both customers bought the 12-pouch versions of the product which is currently not listed on Aldi’s website.
The Vitacat 48-pouch bumper pack is online but ‘no longer available.’
