Immediately, he and his coworker stopped eating and rushed to the Aldi store to report the incident. “They wanted to give me a refund, but that’s not the issue. Apparently, no one knows if it was just in my can or in others. That’s worrying,” he said.
Product Still on the Shelves
Doctors from the emergency medical service (SAMU), after reassuring Julien, simply advised him to monitor for any abnormal symptoms before going to the hospital. Fortunately, he showed no signs of illness. “I wonder how maggots could survive in a sealed can. Maybe there was an air leak at some point,” he speculated.
Three days later, La Dépêche du Midi visited the store — and to everyone’s surprise, the product was still on sale.
An Isolated Case, Says the Brand
Contacted by the newspaper, Aldi’s management confirmed that their quality-control teams had been alerted. “Checks have been underway since Tuesday to determine whether this is an isolated case or part of a wider issue,” an Aldi spokesperson explained.
However, the product has not been removed from the shelves because, according to the company, “as long as we are not certain of widespread contamination, removing the product from all 1,300 stores would be premature.”
Contaminated Shrimp in the Past
Last June, Aldi issued a large recall of frozen shrimp under the Golden Seafood brand, sold between March 18 and June 5. The products had been contaminated by the bacterium Vibrio vulnificus, commonly known as the “flesh-eating bacteria.”
The retail chain urged customers to immediately destroy the affected shrimp or return them to stores, as stated on the Rappel Conso website.
The Vibrio vulnificus Bacterium
This dangerous bacterium, capable of infecting wounds when handling contaminated seafood, can also cause severe gastrointestinal illness in healthy individuals and, in the most serious cases, lead to septicemia in more vulnerable people.
The 400-gram trays involved in the recall were sold in several regions, including Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Île-de-France, Normandy, and Nouvelle-Aquitaine.
A man from Toulouse discovered live maggots in a salad purchased from Aldi, raising new concerns about food safety.
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