An Asda shopper was shocked to find that her jar of Extra Special curry sauce contained a dead mouse.
Cate Barrett, from St Austell, Cornwall, discovered the dead rodent as she was preparing dinner with her partner Nigel.
The nursery worker poured the £1.49 Asda own-brand sauce into the pan and noticed that it was “more lumpy than usual”. As she began stirring the sauce through, she saw what looked like whiskers and a tail and immediately knew it was a dead mouse.
“I wondered if we had too many vegetables in the pan,” said the 38-year-old. “I shouted out to Nigel to come to see if it was what I thought it was. Then I fished it out…there it was, a whole, dead, tikka masala-flavoured mouse.”
“Needless to say, we didn’t eat the curry that we were looking forward to. The seal was firmly in place as the button on the top of the jar’s lid hadn’t popped out. It was a really big shock to see it plop out of the jar.”
The couple returned the jar complete with mouse to their local Asda store .
Ms Barrett. added: “I’ve not had an explanation yet as to how the mouse got in the jar – it must have just fallen in the moment before the lid was sealed or something like that.”
“Asda have been good about it all. I’m not squeamish but that definitely got my heart pumping when I saw it and gave me a real fright. It’s going to be a while until I get another one of those tikka masala sauces .”
An Asda spokesman said: “The curry sauce has been sent to be analysed and a full investigation will take place, usually taking a number of weeks.”
The spokeswoman added the supermarket appreciated Ms Barrett’s patience and that Asda representatives would contact her once the results of their investigation were complete.
The incident is also being investigated by Environmental Health.