A STUNNED shopper found a lump of mould in her microwave rice after shopping at Lidl.

Julie Tansey placed the product in her microwave and as it began spinning she was greeted by a “gut wrenching smell”.

When she complained, the budget supermarket offered her a £10 voucher.

She spoke to the Standard following her experience at the store off Station Road, Maldon.

She said: “At first I thought it was mould. But then it started to look more like a mouse.

“The smell made me heave. It was foul.

“I was very shocked and very upset.”

Upon discovering the mould in the rice on January 4, Ms Tansey wrote to Lidl to complain.

It took the store two weeks to respond, and when they did they offered her a £10 Lidl voucher as way of an apology.

“I think the response from the store was terrible and it made me very upset and cross,” said Ms Tansey.

“They sent me an email after my complaint to say they would look into it and that’s all I heard from them.

“I e-mailed them twice for an update but got no response.

“Eventually they sent a letter saying they believed it was mould and sent me a £10 voucher.

“The fact they thought a £10 voucher was a kind gesture is a joke.

“It’s a Lidl voucher so I have to spend it with them after what happened is an insult.

“I would like a proper apology from Lidl and compensation for the stress and upset it has caused me not a Lidl voucher.

“I want people to be aware in case they have a similar experience.”

Ms Tansey says she has not been back to the store since the incident and doesn’t know if she will.

She said: “I have a two-year-old son and am worried about him eating something that could be contaminated in some way.

“I am worried about this happening again.” An investigation has been carried out and a company representative has apologised.

A spokesman for the Lidl store said: “We were very sorry to hear of this matter as it is never our intention for a customer to be dissatisfied with a product in any way.

“Following contact with our customer service team the matter was immediately escalated to our quality assurance department, whose investigation with the supplier concluded the foreign body in the product was mould.

“A letter was sent to the customer on January 12 to update them on our investigation and finalise a resolution.

“We only ever work with reputable accredited suppliers who have strict controls and procedures in place to ensure that our products meet the high standards demanded by us and by our customers.

“We are, therefore, very disappointed the expected high standards have not been met on this occasion.”