Maggots in individual boxes of raisins?

Question

Hello, i bought some snack raisins for my son, about 2 weeks ago i opened a box to discover maggots, so i opened a 2nd and a 3rd box and all were contaminated with maggots. i threw all of the boxes and packaging away and believed this was a one off. I recentently bought some more of the same brand raisins and today have discovered the same contamination with a Best before end of august 2007! What advice can you give me with dealing with this matter. I have contacted the company and am awaiting a return call. im concerned that if this has happened to me twice that maybe all the produce is contaminated. please advice me on what to say. many thanks

darlene10 this is my point though, if we all just excepted a refund then yes it would continue and stores wouldnt have to remove the produce. As for finding it hard to believe i guess all i can say is i hope it doesnt happen to you. thanks for your input though.

Answer 1

in the interests of general public health, I would contact the local envronmental control officer at your council. These have the power to investigate and stop/recall product.

Its the best community minded thing you can do.

If you want compensation, threaten to go public.
But thats not my style, and it doesn't sound like yours.

Do the decent thing, and phone the council offices first thing in the morning. There should have been an immediate response from the company on this, and the environmental offcer will want to chase it down.

The packaging will have 3 numbers on it in a triangle, this will identify the packaging plant to the envormental officer.

Answer 2

Don't throw any more away - I had the same problem with a certain brand of pasta which had little black bugs in. The first pack I threw away and went and bought another pack - same problem!

I took them back to the shop but I checked on the shelf at each packet and could see the things crawling around inside. I went to customer services and stood in the middle of the shop until each packet had been taken off the shelf!!

Don't think supermarkets really like you advertising very loudly that there's maggots in your raisins or bugs in your pasta.

If you don't feel avanged after that you could always go to the local press - nice picture with frowning mum, sobbing child and handful of maggotty raisins would go down a treat!! ;-)

Answer 3

Thats disgusting! Eeeeew!

There are two things you can do, firstly you need to complain where you bought them and see what can be done about it then. Make sure you keep your receipt in case they ask you for proof of purchase. It may be the supermarket that has the problem or it could be the fault of the distributors.

Secondly you can call the company and alert them of what's happened. If they don't call you back, keep calling until they take notice and do something.

This could be a legal matter so keep the boxes - sealed and speak to your citizens advice bureau about it and see of they can point you in the right direction if they are not able to help.

You could also look at the following website which will tell you how to go about complaining! http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/

Good Luck!

Answer 4

I've had similar things unforutantely it was a while ago but i'll try and remember what i said...although all I got was my money back.

I bought a few tins of tomatoes and found maggots in the bottom of the can. I wrote to the company pretty much summing up what had happened, voicing my concern for a product that normally has high standards that had suddenly on a couple of occassions had been contaminated.
Eventually they wrote back, asked me to send a receipt and simply refunded me my money back (it was a matter of small change) and said this was a one off dodgy batch and they apologise.

that was it.

Answer 5

1) You can return them to the manufacturer and get an apology and refund.
2) You can take them to your Trading Standards or Environmental Health Officer who will check on the manufacturer's hygiene standards but you get nothing

I had insect contamination problems when I worked. The insects lay their eggs on the grapes and they are not killed in processing. The eggs are so minute the manufacturer/packer cannot check for contamination as it occurs in the country of origin.
I always said I could ensure any product was free of insect contamination but it would kill the consumer if I did so. I wasn't joking either!
RoyS

Answer 6

That is sick. All you can do is report it to the company. Just say how you feel.
I would be disgusted to find maggots in anything that I have bought to eat. Tell them you have bought a few boxes and this has happend, tell them that it made your son ill and that you are not happy at all as a loyal customer etc

Answer 7

you definetley need to go back to the store most parents dont even look into the boxes of raisins they hand over to there children so many parents may be contaminating theyre children without even knowing say you definetley want your money back and all the raisins removed off the shelves....this is horrible i dont really know what to think i cant believe it really just the thought of how many parents dont look first before giving them the box if i was you i would be highly upset and you may even be able to get some type of settlement from this..good luck super mom

Answer 8

Someone else recently said the same thing a few weeks ago. There must be flies in the packaging plants?

Answer 9

well if they dont respond soon then simply write a letter to them. and send them a pic of the whole scenerio. and then if still nothing happens then take it national. for example call a tv station. or yoru local news paper.

Answer 10

Go up to the company and sue!!! That is disgusting and if your son wasn't paying attention he may have eaten some (unless you caught them all).