Aldi shopper’s shock discovery in broccoli head

A NSW woman has detailed her shock discovery in a broccoli head bought in Aldi – with the supermarket describing it as “very unusual”.

A woman has reminded fellow shoppers to double check fresh produce for any creepy-crawlies after discovering a scorpion in her broccoli head.

NSW mum Chloe Mitchell was shocked to find the live eight legged creature living inside the vegetable that was purchased from Aldi Ulladulla by her father-in-law over the weekend.

An Aldi spokesperson told news.com.au it was “very unusual”.

“We strongly encourage customers to bring issues to our attention directly so we can review,” the spokesperson said.

“Without contact with the customer, we can confirm that it is very unusual, and that this broccoli hitchhiker isn’t where they belong – which is likely back on our Aussie producers’ farm.”

Chloe, 29, told news.com.au she washed the broccoli head before chopping it up into small pieces on her kitchen bench.

“I put it in the steamer on the stove. I then turned around to get the last few pieces and saw something crawling along the chopping board,” she said.

The mother-of-one instantly recognised it was a scorpion and kept her distance given their painful stings.

NSW mum Chloe Mitchell discovered a live scorpion in a broccoli head purchased from her local Ulladulla Aldi store. Picture: Facebook/ChloeMitchell

“I called my husband to come deal with it. He said (some choice words) and asked where it had come from.”

When the pair attempted to go near it, the scorpion put its claws and tail up.

“It was very angry,” Chloe said.

The 29-year-old from Ulladulla said she’s found critters such as caterpillars in fresh produce which is “expected”, but never anything like a live scorpion.

Scorpions are found right across Australia, living in a huge variety of habitats, but there have not been any fatalities recorded from their stings here.

“Several thousand people die each year from scorpion bites, but this mortality is due to the venom of about 25 species located in northern Africa, the Middle East, India, Mexico and parts of South America,” according to the Museum of Victoria.

Chloe, 29, was chopping up the vegetable when she saw something moving on her chopping board (not pictured). Picture: iStock

Scorpions stings can be painful and often result in swelling and pain for several hours. You should call a doctor if you get bitten by a scorpion.

Chloe shared her experience in an Aldi Facebook group reminding shoppers to check their fresh produce.

Her post has been ‘liked’ more than 1300 times attracting hundreds of comments from stunned members.

“Just shows the food was fresh with no chemicals on it,” one person wrote.

“It happens. It’s fresh produce. Insects live in plants. This is why you should always wash thoroughly,” another added. “There was once a green tree frog in the bananas at my local fruit shop in Canberra! Probably travelled in the packing crates, poor little thing!”

Chloe said that because she has a toddler and dog and with the family spending a lot of time outdoors, she didn’t want anyone to be stung by it should they release the scorpion in the garden.

Instead, Chloe’s father-in-law, who is a horticulturalist, decapitated the scorpion and disposed of it in the garbage.

“We also live around a lot of native parks and didn’t want it to start doing damage to the environment here. There’s a lot of families who have children and animals and we didn’t want it to sting anyone.”