AN ALDI customer has claimed her son found a starfish inside one of his cooked mussels.
Lucy Maguire was shocked when her son Teddy Woodfine showed her the sea creature yesterday.
The eight-year-old from Basildon, Essex had been tucking into his £1.79 cooked Scottish mussels mixed with garlic when he discovered the little addition inside.
An image shows the orange-tinged starfish lying next to the dark blue mussel shell.
The starfish is around half the size of the delicacy’s outer shell and its five legs have all warped and curled under after being heated up.
Lucy, 27, initially thought Teddy was joking when he said he found a starfish in his food as just weeks earlier she had discovered a crab inside her restaurant mussels.
Another image shows the light green crab in a napkin that Lucy had pulled from her food previously.
Lucy posted about her bizarre discover on TikTok yesterday where the clip has attracted over 9,000 views.
Viewers had mixed reactions over the findings.
One said: “I’m not really sure what you expect to be honest.”
Lucy replied: “Baring in mind they were cooked before being packaged. Lol, it’s just something you don’t see every day in your food is it?”
Another wrote: “That’s totally normal and is in fact considered lucky if you find it.”
A third replied: “That’s exactly why I don’t eat dead stuff.”
A fourth commented: “Yummy.”
Speaking today, Lucy, who owns her own cleaning business, said: “My son loves mussels, he’s obsessed and he’s only eight.
“He ate them all and the last one was shut.
“When he opened he shouted ‘mum I just found a big starfish in my mussel’.
“I thought he was joking to begin with because I’d just found a crab in my mussels at a restaurant on fathers day.
I know it happens because it’s food.
“Honestly it’s so bad, it’s disgusting.
“Luckily he didn’t eat it. I was mortified, I was so shocked.”
An Aldi spokesperson said: “Whilst extremely rare, this can occasionally occur with products like mussels that grow in natural conditions.
“We apologise to Ms Maguire that, on this occasion, our usual high standards were not met, and would encourage her to contact our customer service team who will be happy to assist further.”
