The maggot was found in an Ingham chicken bought at the Tauriko Pak'nSave. Photo / Supplied
The maggot was found in an Ingham chicken bought at the Tauriko Pak'nSave. Photo / Supplied
Tauriko Pak'nSave and Ingham's are investigating after a man claimed he found a maggot in a chicken he cooked and ate, and then fell ill.
Bay of Plenty man Andrew Morris-Vette says he found the maggot last Wednesday about 6pm.
He says it was found in a frozen Ingham's herband garlic butterfly chicken bought at Tauriko Pak'nSave in Tauranga.
"Extremely disgusted" is how Morris-Vette described the ordeal, and he and his wife fell sick with stomach cramps and diarrhoea throughout the next day.
But it was the supermarket's response that left Morris-Vette disappointed and annoyed.
However, a spokesperson at Pak'nSave Tauriko said the duty manager followed the company's strict food and safety protocols and alerted the compliance manager of the issue the next morning.
A refund was issued when Morris-Vette brought the packaging in yesterday and the company was working with the supplier to investigate further.
Morris-Vette said the chicken was bought frozen a week prior and was put in his chest freezer and only thawed the Wednesday afternoon in the fridge shortly before cooking.
He said it was in a sealed package until it was put in the oven.
It wasn't until the dinner was finished that the maggot was found.
"I finished and looked down at my plate and thought 'hang on, we didn't eat rice'."
He believed there wasn't a chance the maggot had come from somewhere else as he had to dig it out of the chicken.
"When a fly lays maggots it doesn't just lay one. How many did we eat?
"That maggot is not a small maggot. The chicken would have been opened to the elements for quite some time to get that big."
A close up of the maggot. Photo / Supplied
The packaging and the maggot were taken to Pak'nSave that night but there was no appropriate manager to deal with the situation, Morris-Vette said.
He was contacted by a manager the following day and was told to bring it in - which his wife did yesterday - but was shocked to receive a $10 refund for his troubles.
"We've eaten maggots! It's just another kick in the guts.
"They have shown no real sympathy or gave any kind of compensation for the whole ordeal we've both been through apart from a measly refund."
He said at the end of the day he just wanted the company to acknowledge how he felt.
"A little sympathy wouldn't go astray because I wouldn't wish this on anyone."
The spokesperson at Pak'nSave Tauriko said when the issue initially came to light, the customer refused to leave the product and packaging behind for the store to undertake an immediate investigation in partnership with Ingham's, which created an unnecessary delay.
"We can't establish what's happened to the satisfaction of our customer, supplier or team if we don't have the product on hand.
"We've only just been able to retrieve the evidence from the customer, despite numerous attempts since we were first advised."
Morris-Vette said he did not return to the shop until he was due for a weekly shop as he did not have time to drop it in beforehand.
