A box cutter blade found in dry dog food bought at Aldi

A REGIONAL Victorian couple have spoken of their shock after finding an unwanted surprise in Aldi dry dog food while feeding their four-year-old bull-mastiff, Storm.

A box cutter blade was found in dry dog food bought at Aldi in Benalla. Picture: Jeff Simmons

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A DOG owner says it’s lucky he didn’t stick his hand into a bag of Aldi dry dog food after finding a box cutter blade inside.

Benalla resident Jeff Simmons and his partner Ping Lim claimed to have found the blade after opening and pouring the kibble into a steel bowl to feed their bull-mastiff, Storm, last night.

“It was lucky because I usually put my hand in the bag, but my partner used a plastic container,” he said.

“She saw some darkness and scooped it out, put it in the stainless steel bowl and there was a ‘clonk’. We were both in shock.”

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Storm the bull-mastiff just wanted his food. Picture: supplied by Jeff Simmons

Storm is still smiling after the ordeal. Pictured: supplied by Jeff Simmons

Mr Simmons said September 1 was their first time buying the bag of Julius beef dog food.

“We haven’t bought it before because we usually buy better brands,” Mr Simmons said.

“We usually feed storm fresh meat, bread, and the pour dry food on top with an egg.

“Storm is a beautiful dog but he is a guts and he usually gets straight into it.”

Mr Simmons said he returned the bag and the blade — still in the bowl of dog food — to the store, in northeast Victoria, last night.

He also sent a message to Aldi’s Facebook page.

Mr Simmons said it was not Aldi’s fault rather the company who makes the food.

It comes months after Aldi was hit with claims of maggots in eggs, maggots in Aldi-bought beef mince and a claim of maggots in Aldi-bought chicken tenders.

Mr Simmons did not accept the Benalla store’s offer for a refund or a replacement bag, preferring to wait to see what else they would do.

“I was still shaking when I went back into the store, and I was showing customers,” he said.

“The blade was dark so it had been in the food for a long time.”

An Aldi spokeswoman said it was an isolated incident and the product would not be recalled.

“We were understandably concerned when a customer returned our Julius Dog Food

because of the presence of a foreign object,” she said.

She said the company replied this morning to Mr Simmons’ Facebook message, and would collect the sample today for further testing with the New South Wales based supplier.

“Aldi will always remove a product from sale if it identified as a risk,” she said.

But there’s no chance Mr Simmons will be back.

“We won’t be buying the cheaper stuff again,” he said.

“We will buy the better brands.”