Gold Coast mum’s disturbing find after click and collect from Hope Island Marketplace Woolworths

A Gold Coast mum is urging other shoppers to check their food after she made a sickening discovery in her family’s click and collect order.

A Paradise Point resident was horrified to find rotten frozen food items in her click and collect order from Hope Island Marketplace Woolworths

A Gold Coast mum has been sickened after she found frozen food items in her Woolworths click and collect order rotten beyond recognition.

The Paradise Point resident said she placed an order for click and collect from Hope Island Marketplace Woolworths on Sunday night, which her husband picked up on Tuesday morning.

She said he noticed the Woolworths Essentials branded frozen chips were warm, so he opened them to find a “mashed and mouldy mess.”

The frozen chips were warm when they were picked up from Hope Island Marketplace Woolworths on Tuesday morning, and inside they were a “mashed and mouldy mess.” Picture: supplied.

“I reported that right away but later in the night my teenage son went into the kitchen for something to eat and opened the chicken to find it unrecognisable – it was just a stinking black blob,” she said.

The chicken tenders were well within date – the best before date was June 11, 2026 – but when her son exhumed the chicken tenders from the blue freezer bag, the fillets were unrecognisable.

The chicken tenders were well within the best before date, but inside the freezer bag they were covered in mould. Picture: supplied.

She said they were covered in green and black mould and had a pungent smell.

“It was absolutely sickening.”

“It was as if someone had fished it out of a bin and put it in our order,” she said.

The chicken tenders were so decayed they were unrecognisable. Picture: supplied.

“The worst thing is thinking about what it means for how all the other food from there has been handled and stored.

“We’ve shopped there for years with click and collect and have had occasional minor issues with it which have been quickly rectified, but nothing like this.”

She wants other customers who have shopped at Hope Island Marketplace Woolworths to check their food carefully before eating it.

On Tuesday night, she reached out to Woolworths online chat to lodge her complaint, including pictures and information about the condition of the food.

Woolworths quickly processed a $4 refund for the chips, but the chicken tenders had been mistakenly included in the order so they were not refunded.

The Gold Coast mum was issued a $20 refund as compensation for the ordeal. Picture: contributed.

On Wednesday morning, the representative in the online chat was apologetic, but said they had no answers for her.

“There are no words to justify the damage of the products,” the chat read.

She was also issued $20 in store credit for her trouble.

In a statement, a Woolworths spokesperson said the matter was being investigated.

“Woolworths is aware of a customer report concerning two items in their recent online order which presented with mould,” they said.

“We take food safety very seriously and have strict food safety management processes.

“Our Customer Hub team are in contact with the customer and have refunded their order.

“While we are actively investigating how this incident has occurred, it appears to be an isolated incident”.