Fresher spots dead maggot inside her pistachio

She was nut happy


Imagine student Claire Smith’s horror when she opened a pistachio and discovered a dead maggot waiting inside. 

The 21 year-old was tucking into the Tesco snack at her dad Tim Smith’s house when she spotted the crawly extra at the bottom of the packet.

Tim said: “She was eating them and glanced down and in one of them she saw the maggot.”

Off their nut: Claire and Tim Smith

Speaking her reaction, the dad of the Portsmouth Uni first year said: “To say that she felt sick or was put off eating pistachios for life is an understatement.

“It was disgusting, and we don’t know how many of those she’d eaten.

“I was annoyed and I know things can happen, but Tesco’s reaction was ‘oh dear’.”

Tim complained to Tesco customer services and took the packet of Centennial pistachio nuts back to the store in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, where he bought them.

The tiny maggot which made it’s way into Claire’s pistachio

He was got a £1.50 refund but claims supermarket bosses “weren’t very apologetic.”

Tim, 38, a former warehouse worker from Wing, Buckinghamshire, added: “I asked to speak to a manager and I was told ‘no’ by the person on the customer service desk.

“When I asked if I would be hearing back, they said it would probably be a case of if and when.”

The unwelcome maggot to scale against the pistachio pack

Tesco said the nuts had been sent it to the manufacturer for investigation.

A spokesman said: “We set ourselves the highest standards for the products we sell and are always disappointed when a customer has reason to complain.

“We have let Mr Smith know the product will be sent to the product’s manufacturer for investigation and we will update him as soon as we can.”