Horror for Exeter family as slug discovered in Tesco milk used in children’s breakfasts

An Exeter mother has spoken about her shock and disgust after discovering a slug floating in a bottle of milk she had been using to feed her young children for several days. 

Beth Rees, aged 24, who lives in the city with her partner and two children aged three and eight months, said she discovered on Wednesday (October 22) morning while preparing breakfast.

The family had bought the filtered milk as part of a Tesco home delivery. Unaware of the contamination, they had been using it in drinks, cooking and on the children’s cereal since the previous Sunday.

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Beth described the moment she realised something was wrong: “We had bought it from a Tesco delivery; it was filtered milk. I opened it on Sunday, my partner, both kids who are 3 and 8 months, and myself have been drinking and using it in cooking.” 

“Plus both my children had it for breakfast Sunday, Monday and Tuesday – then went to give it to them Wednesday morning and that’s when I found it. Went to pour a lot of milk out into the pan to make their Weetabix, then it was floating around the pan. It had thick slime all around it, as I fished it out to take the pictures.”

She said she “felt sick all day” and immediately threw the pan away, after seeing slime all over it and is unable to use it again.

“I was just so angry that I had been giving my two children this milk – I felt guilty even though I had no idea,” she added.

Beth contacted Environmental Health, who said they have now reported the incident and are following up. Beth has also contacted Tesco but is still waiting for a response saying she has “heard nothing back yet”. 

Residents responding on local social media have expressed sympathy and concern, with many asking how the slug could have made its way into the sealed bottle.

Environmental Health officers are expected to investigate whether the contamination occurred during production, packaging or after delivery. 

Additionally, a spokesperson from Tesco told Exeter Today: “We’re sorry to hear about this. We work closely with our suppliers to ensure there are robust quality procedures in place, and milk is thoroughly checked throughout the production process, including multiple filtering stages.”

“In a situation like this, we always ask that the customer returns the product to the store for a full refund and so our team can fully investigate the complaint.”

Tesco also urged that the source of the alleged contamination cannot be verified as the product has not been returned to store. They added that the processes in place at production make the presence of a foreign object highly unlikely; their technical team is investigating with their supplier and can confirm they have not received any other complaints of this nature.