Builder nearly eats locust found in salad bag

Phil Hall was eating a homemade coronation chicken sandwich when he discovered the locust

A supermarket has apologised after a man said he nearly ate a locust which was lurking in a bag of salad leaves.

Phil Hall from Darlington was eating a homemade chicken sandwich containing the leaves when he thought: “Coronation chicken shouldn’t be that hard and crunchy."

“When I took it out of my mouth, I saw it was a great big locust,” he said.

Sainsbury’s, which sold the salad bag, said it was investigating the matter with the manufacturer.

Mr Hall, a builder, said he was eating the sandwich on his lunch break at a site in Brompton, North Yorkshire, when he made the discovery.

At first, he did not know what the unusual texture was and so he pulled the food from his mouth.

He said the locust was among the salad leaves in the sandwich.

When he put the insect on top of his lunchbox, he said it was "twitching" and its head was moving.

“I shouted to the lads, ‘come and have a look at what I’ve just nearly eaten’ and they couldn’t believe their eyes," he said.

Sainsbury's has apologised for the unpleasant find, which was in a bag of salad

Mr Hall’s wife Karen had bought the salad leaves four days earlier in the Sainsbury’s in Darlington town centre.

The leaves were kept in the couple’s fridge at their home in Hurworth-on-Tees until Mr Hall made his packed lunch.

He said he was surprised he had not noticed the locust earlier, but it simply was not something he was looking for when making the sandwich.

Mr Hall said it made him “physically sick” to think the locust had been in his mouth.

“It’s put me off coronation chicken for life and I’ll be going through any salad I have in future with a fine-tooth comb,” said the father-of-two.

'Unpleasant find'

The locust has been returned to the store, along with the remains of the bag of salad.

A manager said: “This obviously isn’t what we would want to happen, but it will be fully investigated.”

The store has agreed to donate to a local food bank at Mr Hall's request.

Sainsbury’s said the salad bag came from the manufacturer G’s, which also supplies other supermarkets.

The locust will also be sent to Sainsbury’s product quality team for further examination.

A spokesperson said: "We have apologised for this unpleasant find and we are investigating with the manufacturer."

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for G's said it would investigate and contact Mr Hall "who has clearly had a disappointing experience".

The salad leaves are grown outdoors and were packed unwashed for a longer shelf life, they said.

They added that "rigorous" checks were made before and after harvesting, including "visual and X-ray detection to identify and remove any natural field-based foreign bodies, such as wildlife".