A mother who was going to feed her young baby broccoli was horrified after discovering it was crawling with hundreds of insects.
Sheetal Sawant, 32, had ordered the broccoli with her online shopping from Tesco and was about preparing it when she noticed the infestation.
She said: ‘I was making purees for my baby daughter, who is a few months old and was just starting to wean.
Sheetal Sawant, 32, had ordered the broccoli with her online shopping from Tesco and was about preparing it when she noticed the infestation
Hundreds of the bugs were pictured inside the brocolli, which Ms Sawant claims was delivered from Tesco
‘At first I noticed a few bugs on the broccoli and on the kitchen counter, so thought I’d just wash the broccoli and that would be enough.
‘But as I started washing it, more and more bugs started falling out. Frankly it was enough to make my skin crawl – it was just horrifying.’
Ms Sawant, from London, continued: ‘By now they were crawling all over my sink and kitchen counter, which had the other vegetables on.
‘I couldn’t just bin the broccoli either as I was worried the bugs would get out and get into everything.
‘So I filled the sink with boiling water and dunked in the broccoli with bugs and all.
Ms Sawant said the bugs were ‘crawling all over my sink and kitchen counter, which had other vegetables on’
Shocking picutres show hundreds of the tiny grey insects clinging to the broccoi and swirling in Ms Sawant’s sink
‘That allowed me to finally get a good look at the broccoli, which was just packed with these tiny grey bugs under the florets and between the stems
‘I had to throw away the food on the kitchen counter and start again.’
Shocking pictures show hundreds of the tiny grey insects clinging to the broccoli and swirling in Ms Sawant’s sink.
Professor Jim Hardie, director of science at the Royal Entomological Society, said the insects looked like aphids.
‘The cabbage aphid and another four species of aphid love broccoli so it’s not unusual to find them,’ he said.
The bugs are renowned for causing damage to crops by feeding on plant sap and transmitting plant diseases.
When Ms Sawant contacted Tesco to complain about the infestation, she was offered a 30p refund for the cost of the broccoli although was not offered a replacement.
The bugs are renowned for causing damage to crops by feeding on plant sap and transmitting plant diseases
She said: ‘I thought it was a little bit cheeky. They couldn’t send anybody over with a replacement for the broccoli – I was cooking and I needed it.
‘I had just done a shop the day before and wasn’t planning another shop for two weeks.’
She added: ‘I’m just surprised that a big supermarket like Tesco could let something like this happen, they should have checked beforehand.
‘Had I not looked, I could have cooked the broccoli and given it to my baby which would have been terrible.’
Tesco have been contacted for comment.