Parents 'in shock' after allegedly finding plastic in pasta pot bought at Bedford branch of Tesco

A couple says they were left horrified after allegedly finding a piece of plastic in a pasta meal bought from a Bedford branch of Tesco.

The incident happened after Mr and Mrs Packwood visited the Tesco Extra store, in Cardington Road, Bedford, on September 12 to pick up a meal deal for their daughter’s lunch.

Mr Packwood said: “Our daughter is diagnosed with long-term special educational needs and disabilities. She likes the same choice every time, Tesco Cheese and Tomato Pasta Pot 300g. Almost half way through the meal she became very distressed and removed a large piece of what appeared to be glass from her mouth. The shock, panic and terror run through us all.

"Not knowing what to do or where to go we rushed back to the store for advice and so they could remove the remaining meals before someone else got injured.

“Together we examined the product and decided the piece was in fact a very large solid sharp piece of hard plastic that matched the product’s corner design. The item had no pieces broken from it, this corner was from another item and inside the food before being sealed.”

The couple say they spoke to staff, worried that their daughter could have already eaten smaller fragments, but claim they were advised to just ‘wait to see if she became ill’.

Mr Packwood added: “The lady couldn’t give us any answers or help. After some wait an acting store manager arrived. They discussed their surprise at the incident but he didn’t say anything beyond that. My wife was physically shaking whilst the clerk completed the forms on her system. Not long into our wait my wife collapsed and had several seizures from the stress and shock. On her regaining consciousness the clerk and I helped her to the car. When I returned to the store the store clerk was in tears and was telling the manager she needed to leave for home.

“As the week progressed we had no response from Tesco, so searched for head office contact numbers but there were no pathways of communication regarding complaints or incident management online.”

Six days later Tesco phoned Mr Packwood and said they would investigate but that the process would take four weeks. The couple claim Tesco inferred the meals would not be removed from sale.

A spokesman for Tesco said: “We are sorry to hear about this. We have very high standards for the food we put on our shelves and have asked our supplier to investigate.”

But Mr Packwood says the supermarket's response isn't good enough.

He added: "We are very concerned they haven't taken any action to remove the products from their shelves, at least until a full investigation is completed and the source rectified, considering their advice was to ‘wait to see if our daughter became unwell’.

"We are equally very upset that it has taken them six days before reaching out to enquire after the health and wellbeing of our family. The Tesco representative who rang had no information as to the extent of both my wife's seizure in store nor the well-being of the store clerk who had to be sent home that day."