Coles Mitcham shoppers shocked after possum found in meat department

Shocking video has emerged of a possum crawling along packaged meat at a Coles in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs sparking food safety fears.

A possum has been filmed crawling through the meat section of a supermarket in Melbourne’s east, shocking shoppers and raising food safety concerns.

Mitcham local Teresa Carratelli spotted the furry critter while shopping with her dad in the suburb’s Coles supermarket at 2.30pm on Monday.

Ms Carratelli told Leader she let out a small scream as she initially thought the creature was a rat.

She said a handful of other shoppers also stopped in their tracks and tried to catch the possum as it crawled over packaged meat products on the bottom shelf.

A possum was spotted crawling across packaged meat products at Coles Mitcham on Monday, April 10, 2023. Picture: Supplied.

“I got a little bit closer and realised it was a possum, and I thought poor little thing must be so scared,” Ms Carratelli said.

“There were a couple of girls trying to scoop it up with a basket or bag.”

Ms Carratelli said she had “never seen anything like it” in her two years shopping at the Mitcham supermarket.

She said it would not deter her from shopping regularly at the store, but hoped the area would be cleaned and kept safe from another similar incident occurring.

“You would hope that all that meat was protected, at the same time you would want them to clean out the area,” Ms Carratelli said.

“I don’t know how it (the possum) got in there, but I felt sorry for it and I hope they removed it safely.”

Coles’ head office has been contacted for comment.