A HORRIFIED mum found live ‘worms’ crawling in an Asda roast chicken – after her family had already eaten it.
Vanessa Lucas-Smith was left “gut-wrenchingly sick” after making the gruesome discovery inside the budget supermarket’s Succulent Extra Tasty Small Whole Chicken in a bag.
The disgusted 44-year-old had eaten the worm infested £4.40 meal with her two kids and ex-husband last on Monday last week.
Disaster struck when Vanessa’s former partner went to serve up a second portion and saw the creepy critters.
Asda has claimed the creatures are larvae of the litter beetle, also known as the darkling beetle or lesser mealworms – pests that can carry Salmonella, E- coli and avian flu.
It is believed they nested in the chicken because part of its stomach wasn’t removed during the manufacturing process, according to the supermarket.
Vanessa, who lives in Isle of Dogs, London, said she hadn’t spotted anything abnormal while preparing the nightmare meal.
“So I cut the chicken, served it out and we all ate the chicken, which I now feel gut-wrenchingly sick about,” she explained.
“And then my ex-partner went through to the kitchen for a bit more, then he carved it up and discovered the stomach.
“He told me to come into the kitchen and I thought ‘is this chicken stuffed’ then I looked at it and thought it’s the stomach. It’s disgusting they left it in there.
“We looked closer and at first I thought it was full of maggots but then we realised it was full of mealworms and you can see chicken grain in there too.
“We opened the stomach up a bit and all the mealworms came out. It was so revolting. They all stayed intact despite being cooked.
“It was rank, it was really disgusting.”
The mum-of-two, who claimed she is still awaiting a refund from Asda, slammed company and branded them “disgraceful”.
“I thought this is awful because we don’t know what’s going into the food chain. This is how serious illnesses start,” added the “grossed out” parent.
Vanessa claimed the traumatising ordeal has scarred her daughter and stopped her eating chicken for life.
Despite the creatures, the mum said: “No one was ill but we all felt really queasy. We’re not going to touch chicken for a long time.”
She added: “It’s outrageous this is happening. It’s not acceptable.”
After posting images of the chicken on social media, Vanessa was flooded with support.
One person wrote: “That’s disgusting. Can you imagine how your stomach must have been turning.”
“Question is, what is it being fed? Leaving stomach/guts in is unforgivable,” a second added.
Another agreed: “I got chills all over, just yuk. I would have collapsed.”
An Asda spokesperson said: “We always want our customers to be pleased with the products they buy from Asda so we are disappointed that Ms. Lucas-Smith has purchased a product which falls below our high expectations.
“We have apologised to her and offered a full refund as well as a gesture of goodwill
“It appears that a key stage in the preparation of this product has been missed and we are investigating how this could have happened with our supplier.”
The Sun Online reached out to Asda for comment.
This comes after another mum was shocked when she heard a crunch after biting into her McDonald’s.
Shelby Forrester was “mortified” when she discovered what was lurking inside her chicken wrap.
Herself and partner Jake had a found none other than a snail, stuck three bites from the bottom of their meal.
Elsewhere, another couple found a live frog in their pack of spinach – and it had spent nine days in their fridge.
Katherine Bacon, 32, spotted the reptile’s belly pressed up against the sealed packaging when she went to prepare a meal.
Meanwhile, one woman was disgusted after finding a dead spider in her McChicken Sandwich.
After taking a bite into her £3.19 burger she found the creature wedged between strands of lettuce.
