A woman has been left unable to eat meat after discovering a “family of maggots” inside a pack of raw chicken.

Clemma Tagg, from Basildon, visited the Eastgate branch of Asda and bought a whole chicken for roasting to make a curry for her husband, Jeff.

She got home and put the chicken in the oven, but was horrified on checking the cooking instructions - which are on the inside of the packet - to find about 10 or 12 maggots.

Mrs Tagg said: “I usually put the timer on but I’m not sure why I didn’t this time.

“I turned the packet over to see how long it should be in the oven for and out of the corner of my eye saw something drop.

“As I got closer I realised what it was.

“When I looked at it I realised it was a maggot.

“I looked at the packet and saw a little family of them.”

Mrs Tagg binneed the packet and the chicken and she contacted the customer care line at Asda.

She said: “I felt sick when I saw the maggots. I haven’t been able to eat meat since.

“I got passed between four different people until I was told they would only offer a refund for the cost of the chicken - £2.99.

“I was concerned that they didn’t seem worried about the other chickens in the store. If this one had maggots, others could as well.”

Mrs Tagg added it would have cost more than £2.99 she was offered to return the chicken. She was informed she would have to take the chicken and wrapper to the store but she didn’t want to touch the contaminated meat.

A spokesman for Asda said: “We place the greatest importance on the quality and freshness of our products and are very sorry for Mrs Tagg’s experience.

“We are currently investigating to find out what happened, but would like to reassure all our customers that this is an isolated incident and that we have not received any other complaints.”