Maggots found in Iceland freezer meal

Karen Pocock compared the experience to an I’m a Celebrity eating trial after her daughter found the insect in a Chinese style chicken and rice product.

She had bought the freezer meal from Food Warehouse in Tower Park months prior but did not find the maggot until her daughter heated the meal on August 30.

“It was my daughter that found it and was like ‘oh my god, I'm going to be sick’,” said Karen.

The family from Bournemouth had previously bought the exact product from Food Warehouse as a ‘quick and easy ready meal’.

Following Karen’s complaint to Iceland, she said she received a “textbook response” and a “laughable” offer of compensation.

In an email sent to Karen, a spokesperson for Iceland said the supplier, based in Belgium, had conducted an investigation after the maggot was found.

They added that all fruit is examined at a high degree and any compromised produce is returned to the supplier.

However, they said that the maggot appears to be the same size as peas and was therefore missed during the sieving process. 

The spokesperson said: “During processing and packing, the product passes through a number of different “cleaning” points to remove any naturally occurring or field contamination.

“These include washing and destoning, size grading or sieving, optical sorting and visual inspection.

“We can see that the maggot is a similar size to the peas and carrots in this product and will therefore not be removed by the size grading or sieving step.

“These maggots will float in the wash water and will not be removed unlike pieces of soil and small non-porous stones.”

It was said that the supplier completes an analysis of the previous year’s complaints to implement corrective actions the following year.

Karen was offering £15 as a “gesture of goodwill” and a full refund for the product on an Iceland Bonus Card.

The Echo contacted Iceland for a comment but did not receive a response at time of publication.