AN investigation has been launched after a horrified plumber accidentally deep-fried a mouse that had been sealed inside a bag of Tesco scampi.
Mohammed Ali says he is still too sick to eat after the gruesome discovery on Wednesday afternoon.
The 37-year-old emptied the contents of the bag into his deep fat fryer not realising the deceased rodent had been frozen alongside the battered langoustine tails.
Mr Ali, from Stoneyburn, West Lothian, has reported the grisly find to Tesco and local environmental health officials, who are now investigating.
He bought the £3 packet from Tesco in Bathgate, West Lothian, on Wednesday and later that day decided to fry them up for his evening meal.
He said: “I stuck my hand in the bag and and put it in, I was in a hurry.”
He says he checked the pan two minutes later and noticed something was amiss.
“I saw something black was inside it.
“I thought ‘what the hell is that?’
“I fished it out and it was a mouse. I was shocked.
“I was upset and angry. I was looking forward to scampi and I love scampi.”
After the incident yesterday (wed) afternoon he contacted Tesco and West Lothian Council’s trading standards department
He says the experience has left him unable to eat anything: “I’ve only been drinking juice, I’m starving.”
The plumber said his friends and family have ridiculed him after the find: “I went to my brother’s party yesterday and as soon as I got in my brother was going ‘squeak, squeak.'”
A West Lothian Council spokesman said: “We have been contacted by a local resident regarding the alleged find of a mouse in a locally bought food product.
“Our Environmental Health officers are visiting the customer [on Thursday] to investigate further.”
Mr Ali is not the first to find a rodent in his food unexpectedly.
In 2010 Stephen Forse was horrified to find a mouse baked into a Hovis Best of Both loaf which he had bought from Tesco.
He made the gruesome discovery as he was preparing sandwiches for his children.
The find led to producers Premier Foods being fined almost £17,000.
In 1997 another firm, HL Foods, was fined £8,000 after Robert Howard from London found a mouse in his tin of baked beans.
