‘Blood, wet’: Shoppers make horror find in Woolworths rice - a dead rat

An Australian shopper has revealed the horrifying find she made inside a packet of Woolworths microwavable rice.

A shopper has been left horrified after her daughter discovered a dead mouse at the bottom of a bag of Woolworths rice.

The packet of supermarket-brand microwave rice was one of five bought on January 22 and was within its use-by date.

Sarah-Jayne Hayward, 46, was preparing dinner with her 25-year-old daughter Claudia, who fortunately emptied the contents of the packet into a bowl before heating, Perth Now reports.

They discovered a grey patch that looked like mould, but upon further inspection it was found to be a mouse.“I was horrified and bewildered. It smelt bad but not mouldy and it didn’t even look old,” Ms Hayward said.

“There was blood and a stale wet smell coming from the contents.”

The vile find turned out to be a dead mouse. Picture: PerthNow

Saying it was something “you only hear about” rather than experience, she also revealed her daughter was left nauseous by the incident.

Unsurprisingly, both were put off their food and have been reluctant to eat rice ever since.

“She was more sick and I was in shock,” Ms Hayward said. “She started to feel nauseous and visibly reacted and could not eat much for days afterwards.

“I had also bought some Chinese food that night and ending up throwing it out.”

Ms Hayward took the rodent-tinged rice to Woolworths Treendale, which offered a refund without question.

The customer service attendant was apologetic and advised Ms Hayward to contact head office to report it.

The mouse was found in a packet of microwavable rice. Picture: PerthNow

The rodent was at the bottom of the packet. Picture: PerthNow

“Woolworths Treendale were great, but I went on a merry-go-round for days after, trying to find who to contact and report it to Woolworths,” she said.

The packet indicated the food was packed by Woolworths and provided customer service numbers which did not provide specifically for quality control or health and safety concerns.

Ms Hayward got in touch via an automated Woolworths customer service chat and said it was very difficult to get any assistance or reassurance that way.

“They don’t make it easy,” she said. “I couldn’t find anywhere to make the query.”

A Woolworths spokesperson said food safety was taken very seriously and that when issues were reported they were promptly investigated.

The pair were horrified by their discovery.

“We work to understand whether contamination occurred during the production process or after a product was purchased, what safeguards are in place to prevent it happening in future and whether any other packs are likely to be affected,” they said.

“This concerning report is being investigated with our supplier and we apologise to the customer for this experience.”

If customers have concerns with food quality or safety, they can return the product in its packaging to their local store for a full refund and lodge a formal report.

Customers can contact the customer care line to do so.

This article was first published in Perth Now and was reproduced with permission.

Originally published as ‘Blood, wet’: Shoppers make horror find in Woolworths rice - a dead rat