Bournemouth man finds caterpillar in Tesco sandwich

On his way to work at a dental practice, Grant Robinson visited the Westbourne branch of Tesco in Poole Road on the morning of Monday September 13 to buy lunch for later in the day.

Having already eaten one sandwich, the 31-year-old said he was “freaked out” after nearly chomping down on the green insect “wiggling” on the bread.

He told the Daily Echo: “I was just about to eat a BLT when in the corner of my eye I saw this caterpillar crawling out of the side. I completely froze and said, ‘no way’.

BL-C? Caterpillar found in Tesco sandwich

“Other nurses gathered around and found it absolutely disgusting. The fact I ate the first sandwich freaked me out as there was the possibility that I’d just eaten caterpillar eggs or something.”

Grant says that he released the caterpillar, which was still alive and wriggling, into a garden and threw the uneaten sandwich away.

The dental nurse added: “I contacted Tesco via email and Twitter about it and got responses which I feel lacked sincerity. They apologised and gave me a £5 voucher as a goodwill gesture but that’s not the point.

“I think Tesco need to really watch their food processing as that could make someone very ill. On Twitter, I saw a lady who found a large moth in a fruit salad, so this isn’t something out of the ordinary.

“It’s a really bizarre situation and Tesco need to be more aware and pay attention to detail.”

As well as complaining online, Grant also said that he visited the Westbourne branch to discuss the issue with a manager. While members of staff apologised for the incident, a manager was unavailable.

A Tesco spokesperson said: “We’re sorry this happened and take every effort to minimise the risk of insects in our lettuce. We offered this customer a full refund for the item and a gesture of good will as an apology.”