An Aldi customer who complained she found a rat in her frozen vegetables has prompted the store to withdraw up to 38,000 packets from its shelves.
Pat Bateman, 60, was giving her two-year-old granddaughter lunch when she discovered the revolting rodent.
The grandmother-of-five complained to the German supermarket chain which offered her a meager £30 compensation, before increasing it to £500.
Pat Bateman, 60, from Liskeard in Cornwall, found half a rat in her Aldi frozen vegetables
But former florist Pat rejected the money after the retailer received two similar complaints from Environmental Health inspectors about rats in the same batch.
In February last year a ‘mouse portion’ was also found in the same mixed greens.
Pat, who lives in Liskeard, Cornwall, with her 70-year-old husband Dave, said she was about to put the bag back in the freezer when she noticed something at the bottom.
‘I couldn’t believe my eyes when I pulled it out,’ she told The Sun.
‘It just looked like half a rat. It had fur on it.
‘I showed my husband and because it was frozen we left it to defrost before taking another look at it.’
The retailer received two similar complaints from Environmental Health inspectors about rats in food and in February last year a ‘mouse portion’ was also found in the same mixed greens
She took it back to the local store where she had bought it.
But, unimpressed by the £30-off her food shop offered by the manager, she decided to send pictures of the gruesome discovery to Aldi’s head office.
The vegetables are produced by supplier Agrifreez in Saden, Belgium, and almost 40,000 were dispatched in the run up to Christmas.
It is thought the rodent pieces entered the food chain with some green beans, but inspectors concluded the factory was not suffering from an infestation.