Coles shoppers disgusted after 'gross' find on supermarket shelf
A disgusting scene on a Coles shelf has sparked concerns about staff competency after the disturbing discovery was made in plain sight by a customer.
The shopper was searching for a pack of juice boxes inside the Ingle Farm store, located in the Ingle Farm Shopping Centre, in South Australia on Saturday when they were stopped in their tracks.
On investigation of a six-pack of Coles branded orange juice boxes she found a thick layer of a black substance, she thinks was mould, coating the bottom.
In a post to the retailer’s Facebook page, she said the product was still well within its used by date.
“Lucky I saw it [the mould] before I purchased them,” her post read.
She added the shelf appeared to have recently been filled with new stock, making it hard to believe a staff member wouldn’t have noticed the deformity.
“This would have been like this for some time and the fruit boxes had recently been restocked so why are the staff putting these on the shelf for sale when it's clear as day there is something wrong with them?,” she wrote.
The shopper added the hashtag “gross AF [as f***]”.
A Coles employee told the shopper they were “sorry to see this as we aim to provide a clean and safe environment for our customers”.
Coles also requested additional information so it could share the shopper’s “feedback”.
A Coles spokesperson confirmed the product has been removed from the shelf following the shopper’s complaint.
“We were disappointed to see this and contacted the store straight away to let them know and the product was removed from sale,” they told Yahoo News Australia.
“We have also followed up with the customer to thank them for notifying us.”
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