Insect found in meal

paulinespens

fronswa wrote: »

Hi,

a friend found an insect in a meal bought for her in one of the larger supermarket chains. It wasn't in a ready meal or anything, but in the stores' cafe.

I was wondering if anyone knew of any case law, or examples that I can refer to on this.

She took a picture and saved the bug as well.

The funny thing is that she wasn't willing to make a big fuss of it until the manager of the cafe tried to palm her off, and said it wouldn't do any harm if she had ate it.

Case law would be Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] UKHL 100

The common law duty of care neighbour principle.

Hintza

If it was a Mopani Worm can I have it.........yummy.

fronswa

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

TBH, I think that a large % of the population in the west have gone paranoid over cleanliness, whether it's to do with food, kids getting dirty, animals etc.

I completely agree. I used to go camping a helluva lot, and wouldn't even bother trying to fish out the bugs from my tea after a point. Not everyone is the same though.

It was a pasta dish, but the bug was found between the pasta and some salad. God knows what the creature is/was. Haven't seen it yet.

paulinespens wrote: »

Case law would be Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] UKHL 100

The common law duty of care neighbour principle.

The 'Paisley Snail'.
Yeah, it does seem pretty relevant. It would be nice to find something more recent though, so as to find out what the best course of action is.

From reading up on my notes she would be covered under S14(2A) of the Sale of Goods Act, but because someone else bought the meal for her it might have to come under the Consumer Protection Act instead - which would mean any claim would have to be above £275.

At this point it starts to confuse me, which is why I'm looking for a case to give me guidance. Google has come up with nowt so far.

Edit: Apparently the bug is about an inch long. And it was parsley not salad as such.

Mankysteve

Surely the logical thing to do is to contact Environmental health?

Googlewhacker

Gees, as said above tell environmental health and move on with your life. Why does she think she deserves some money from this?

fronswa

Mankysteve wrote: »

Surely the logical thing to do is to contact Environmental health?

That's been done.


@Googlewhacker
Well If the law says she deserves money from this then she does.

It's not normal to pay for a meal and find an inch long bug in it. So someone screwed up. And as a result of someone making a mistake she's ended up spewing.

You and I might not have the same reaction, but then it didn't happened to you or I.

boobyd

Yes , she would deserve some form of recompense, but you are sounding like you want more than the cost of meal plus a bit of goodwill, why do you need a case law ? screw them for all you can get ? no not pleasant , no should not have been there, but with some fresh products things like these happen.Go back , ring Head office, be polite but firm stating not very pleasant etc and see what happens !

Jeff_Bridges_hair

fronswa wrote: »

That's been done.


@Googlewhacker
Well If the law says she deserves money from this then she does.

It's not normal to pay for a meal and find an inch long bug in it. So someone screwed up. And as a result of someone making a mistake she's ended up spewing.

You and I might not have the same reaction, but then it didn't happened to you or I.

But if you read her post about her throwing up she claims her friend

is a bit funny about food in general.

now what i cant find out here is

A) Did she eat any of the food around the insect

Can she prove that the food she may or may not have eaten contributed to her throwing up. I say this because a lot of the food we eat has had some form of insect on it before hand - salads the perfect example.

JimmyTheWig

I agree with boobyd. Did she pay for the meal? [Did they charge extra for the bug?]
I would expect to get the meal for free plus a goodwill gesture of maybe a fiver voucher.

Not unlike the thread we had here the other day about the chewing gum in a bag of shopping. It's not the supermarket's fault that she's "a bit funny about food in general" which is really why she later threw up.

And I'm sure it was the manager's attitude as well as what they actually said, but I'm sure it wouldn't have done any harm.

fronswa

boobyd wrote: »

Yes , she would deserve some form of recompense, but you are sounding like you want more than the cost of meal plus a bit of goodwill, why do you need a case law ? screw them for all you can get ? no not pleasant , no should not have been there, but with some fresh products things like these happen.Go back , ring Head office, be polite but firm stating not very pleasant etc and see what happens !

Screw them for all I can get?

---

What's with the attitude of some in here?

I want to see case law in case they try to fob her off, as the manager's behaviour suggests they might. I came here to get some consumer advice, not pent up bitterness. :A

Gees indeed guys.
I take it you get the odd argument in here then? :cool: