A doctor was disgusted when he made a stomach-churning discovery in a packet of M&S vegetable rice.
Grant Bishop claims a ‘lump of rotting red meat’ fell onto his plate ‘with a thud’ as he prepared a quick meal after a long shift.
He fears the yet-to-be-identified object – which left him ‘close to vomiting’ – could be the remains of a rat or mouse.
The supermarket initially claimed it was mould, offering him a £5 voucher to say sorry.
But M&S is now investigating the issue further after Grant complained they ‘weren’t taking it seriously enough’.
The medic said the smell was ‘horrendous’ – despite the product, from the M&S Foodhall in Selly Oakbeing, remaining within its 2022 ‘use by’ date.
Speaking to Birmingham Live, he said: ‘The lump landed with a thud which was the first thing to catch my attention, and then the smell was just horrendous. That’s when I realised something wasn’t right.
‘There was a black and brown bit and then a dark red bit – the brown patch looked just like cooked meat, and the red bit like minced meat you’d buy from the supermarket – only with mould all over it.
‘’I imagine it had partially cooked in the microwave as the instructions weren’t meant for cooking carcass.’
He added: ‘I’m no mould expert but I am a doctor and this looks remarkably like flesh.’
Grant, who works at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, was informed there is no meat processed in the factory where the rice came from.
But he wasn’t reassured and ‘kept pestering M&S, which eventually asked for the sample and packet.
He said: ‘I have kept some behind to send to potentially send to a private lab to analyse as I’m not sure I entirely trust M&S to not just dispose of it and claim it had been analysed.’
An M&S spokesman said: ‘Our customer service team is in touch with Mr Bishop and have asked for the product to be returned so our food technologists can carry out further investigations.’
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