January 13, 2022 11.25 am This story is over 25 months old

Aldi apologises after Lincolnshire woman’s rotten chicken complaint

She said it was “black and green inside”

A woman from Louth was left “feeling sick” after finding a chicken she purchased from Aldi was rotten, but the supermarket has since apologised saying its “usual high standards were not met”.

Adrienne Ward, who has since been offered a £10 voucher, purchased an Ashfields British Large Whole Chicken for £3.75 from the store on Newbridge Hill in Louth on January 9. The chicken had a use by date of January 16.

She told The Lincolnite she cooked the chicken the day after buying it, and when she cut into it some of it was “black and green inside”, but fortunately by this point she had only tasted a little bit of the skin. However, she felt annoyed and wanted to escalate things further with the supermarket.

Adrienne complained to Aldi and the customer service team responded to her via email saying: “We apologise for any inconvenience caused. We have not been able to explain the exact cause of this incident, but it may have been a problem within the chill chain.

“This is when a product is left out of the fridge for longer than recommended resulting in incidents such as this.

“I would like to reassure you that Aldi will continue to insist on the highest standards from our suppliers and we shall closely monitor the performance of this particular supplier.

“If you are ever unhappy with any of our products, please take the packaging or your receipt to store on your next visit and the store manager will be happy to refund the item for you.”

Adrienne told the supermarket she felt “absolutely traumatised” and thought they had been “totally irresponsible” and that the incident should not be “brushed under the carpet”.

She told The Lincolnite: “I’d cooked everything in preparation for the meal for myself and my 11-year-old son, to open the chicken up to carve and finding it rotten ruined our meal.

“I had nothing else to go with the rest of what I had cooked so wasted time and effort and still had no meal.

“I was shocked and disappointed that the chicken was rotten. It made me feel sick instantly and also relieved that we hadn’t eaten the meat.”

The Aldi supermarket on Newbridge Hill in Louth. | Photo: Google Street View

Aldi offered her a £6.99 E-voucher to cover the cost of the product and a gesture of good will. Adrienne told the supermarket she “would still like to escalate” the incident, before Aldi then offered an E-voucher to the value of £10.

The supermarket says it has rigorous procedures in place in the shops and with suppliers to ensure products are always maintained at the right temperature. When contacted by The Lincolnite for a further statement Aldi reiterated its apology to the customer.

An Aldi spokesperson said: “The quality of chilled products can be affected if they are not appropriately refrigerated at any point. We have apologised to Ms Ward that, on this occasion, our usual high standards were not met. Any customer who isn’t satisfied with one of our products can return it to their local store for a full refund.”

Although she is still annoyed by the incident, Adrienne was satisfied by Aldi’s quick and honest response, so has decided not to take matters any further. Since the story went online, Adrienne claimed she received a phone call from the supermarket to offer an E-voucher with a higher value of £50.