Worm horror for Middleham mum

11:17am Friday 28th November 2008

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A YOUNG mum has spoken of her horror after finding half an insect lavae in her daughter’s baby food.

Sarah Roper made the grim discovery at the bottom of the jar of Cow & Gate “Grandma’s Sunday Lunch,” which she had just fed to her 11-month-old daughter Hollie.

Miss Roper, who lives in Middleham, North Yorkshire, said: “It is horrifying because I still don’t know what happened to the other end of it - did Hollie eat it, or is it in someone else’s cupboard just waiting to be discovered?”

Miss Roper, 24, said she was feeding Hollie as usual when she noticed a stick-like object in the bottom of the jar.

“At first I thought it was a bit of wood,” she said.

“But when I looked closely I saw it had three sets of legs and a black head.

“I thought it was a maggot, but now I’ve done some research and it looks to me like a meal worm with one end missing.

“The more I think about it the more I feel sick - this will definitely put me off buying jars of baby food in the future.”

Miss Roper contacted Cow & Gate, who have sent her some prepaid packaging so that she can return the jar and its contents for analysis.

Miss Roper, who also has a four-year-old daughter called Hannah, said: “I’ll definitely be making an effort to make my own baby food from now on.”

A spokeswoman for the Food Standards Agency said: “Anyone in this situation should contact their local authority and the manufacturer.

“Obviously we would want to know how this happened, and what measures are in place to stop it happening again.

“However, it is unlikely that eating the meal worm could cause any actual harm.”

A spokeswoman for Cow & Gate said the incident was being treated as “isolated”.

“We were most concerned to hear of Miss Roper’s complaint about Cow & Gate Grandmas Sunday Lunch, as all of our products are made to the highest quality standards,” she said.

“Once we have had the opportunity to investigate this complaint, we will contact Miss Roper with our findings and hopefully offer her reassurance for the future.

“We would like to reassure parents that Cow & Gate are committed to manufacturing baby foods of the highest quality.”