The Very Hungry Caterpillar appears to have become peckish again and this time set his sights on a Tesco meal deal.
That’s judging from these photos taken by dental nurse Grant Robinson, 31, who was a bit put off by finding the live creature ‘wiggling’ on his BLT sandwich.
He was about to take a bite of the £2.50 snack, but then recoiled in disgust realising that it was hosting something living.
Grant took pity on the caterpillar despite their rivalry for the same sandwich, and put it into a bush outside the store before throwing the food away.
He had already eaten the other half of the sandwich and fears he may have accidentally eaten some ‘caterpillar eggs’ (though they generally prefer to lay their eggs on plants).
Grant went back into the Tesco Express store in Westbourne, Bournemouth, Dorset, to complain to staff who were apologetic.
He also raised the issue with Tesco online and the supermarket giant have since apologised and given him a £5 voucher.
Grant said they should take more care with their packaged food, especially those with salad in, so other customers don’t face the same ordeal.
He said: ‘In the corner of my eye I saw this caterpillar crawling out of the side. I completely froze and said, “no way”.
‘My colleagues 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.
‘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.’
Grant may be upset about the bug, but as the old joke goes… at least it was better than finding half a caterpillar.
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.’
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.