Family feasting on Coles hot chicken find wriggling maggots mid-meal
A Victorian family was left disgusted to find maggots crawling through their Coles chicken dinner, mid-meal.
Darryl Colville, 41, said his three children were sitting down to dinner when his daughter, 14, declared: “there’s maggots in my dinner”.
Mr Colville said he had bought the hot chicken from Coles Horsham in Western Victoria, earlier that day (Sunday, November 6).
However Victoria's meat and safety regulator has since found no fault on Coles part following the complaint.
The matter was referred to PrimeSafe who deemed Coles had met all requirements and was not responsible for the infestation.
“I bought two chickens, the kids had actually eaten one… the youngest daughter said there’s maggots in me (sic) dinner,” Mr Colville told Yahoo7.
“She’s very picky and saw them in her chicken.”
Mr Colville said went and checked the other unopened bag and found the same thing, more maggots.
“I got an absolute shock, the three kids had been into it and there was a few crawling in my daughter's dinner.”
“The other two didn’t notice, teenagers you know, just started hoeing into it… but my daughter is very picky with her food.”
The RSPCA approved chicken cost Mr Colville $8 each and was prepared fresh on Sunday November 6, the date of purchase.
Mr Colville complained on Coles' Facebook page and received a call from the store manager.
“BBQ chicken I bought today with maggots sealed in bag,” he wrote.
Photos suggest there were as many as 20 maggots inside the unopened bag.
“They said just bring it in for a refund, I got a call the next day and they said they’re going to do an investigation," he said.
Instead of handing over the chooks, Mr Colville took them to the health inspector to have the maggots tested.
The health authority since found Coles was not responsible and closed the investigation.
Mr Colville said he kept all three of his children home on Monday to make sure they weren’t unwell following the gruesome feast.
“I contacted the hospital and a nurse on call said to watch for food poisoning.”
The Coles was about an hour's drive from the Colville's home.
When asked about his drive home that day Mr Colville said he put the chicken in an Esky before the drive and then straight into the fridge when he arrived at home.
“We take the quality of the products we sell seriously and are following up with the customer to investigate,” a Coles spokeswoman said.
It’s not the first time Coles has come under fire for maggots being found in hot chickens.
In September 2016 a Perth woman complained when she also found maggots in a chicken bought from Rockingham Coles in WA.
When Yahoo7 shared Mr Colville’s claims to social media some were quick to question the story.
“Think you would find that the chickens in the store would be too hot to by flyblown,” Jenny Ovens wrote.
“I highly doubt maggots could live in a hot chicken,” Jamie Field added.
Others supported the claims: “I had to return one to Woolies as had a blowfly sitting on chicken and was very mobile inside the SEALED bag,” Lillian Crofts wrote.
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