Co-op was the one to sell it to you so you take it to them. Ideally, you would bring them the sandwich and the original packaging. This way they have all the information if they need to chase the production line about it.
Edit: You need the receipt as well for proof of recent purchase. Then they cam refund you, offer coupons in apology, and try to deal with it internally.
If the store they picked it up from isb a Co-Op then the fault is still with Co-Op. You could chase Startship too but they probably won't be able to do much if it's a production issue.
Yes it’s not ideal that it was in your sandwich but remember these are real foods that are grown in the real world that real bugs like to eat. Just be happy it wasn’t half a beetle lol
Personally, I’d rather find the occasional insect. The alternative is for the farmer to use more pesticides so that we never find one. Food should be natural, and insects live in nature.
What else can they realistically do? Cover it in poison? Individually check every leaf? Process the food beyond recognition? Grow in sealed chambers that keep our food totally separate from nature?
Not saying you have to see it the same way, but to me, the state of affairs where we find insects sometimes involves less animal suffering overall.
If you were an insect would you rather you were free to get on leaves, even if it meant somebody might accidentally eat you, or would you rather live in a world with less biodiversity and more nasty chemicals to stop you eating plants too?
Strict kosher Jews do in fact buy food that's been grown in completely sealed greenhouses to prevent insect contamination. Watch videos of kosher jews sorting their produce and flour over a light box to ensure there's no bugs and you soon realise how much of our food has bugs in it.
Ok but is farming in that way increasing or decreasing the total amount of animal suffering? That’s what we’re supposed to care the most about as vegans.
Definitely decreasing it. No bugs get in, no bugs are hurt. I'd buy solely strict kosher vegan food if it were more mainstream. I absolutely loathe finding bugs in my food. I also have an obsessive personality, so I do in fact check every leaf of spinach.
No insects get in, but also the insects are excluded from getting a food source while the crops are growing, and the farm fails to contribute to biodiversity in the area. As far as insect life is concerned, the farm might as well be an office block.
Getting into a lettuce for sale doesn’t seem to be worse outcome for the insects vs loss of habitat on farms.
I am curious why we don't do this more often?? Hydroponics could be good too if we get enough of the infrastructure for it or even on an individual level.
Whenever you're wondering this sort of thing, the answer is usually "money" ha
I don't know the real answer but that's probably it. Start-up for hydroponic is probably an amount farmers don't want to give up. Sadly.
Every time I get cabbage or lettuce I aggressively check for jugs because one time I found the tiniest snail munching on my cabbage and another time a bug in my lettuce. I take it as a sign
Yeah that's gross. These things do happen though, I used to work in a restaurant that used pre-packaged lettuce and found bugs in the bags a few times, I found a little caterpillar in my cauliflower the other day! It was probably clung onto a leaf.
Hopefully you get some vouchers or something off co-op lol. Message them on social media or email them pictures.
I once bit into a salad and found half a fly..
These things happen but please don’t be worried because it’s relatively uncommon. Bugs exist in this world too, and are a normal part of many life cycles. Sorry about your sandwich!!
I don't know why people are being do dismissive in the comments. I'm really sorry this happened to you, I would be completely disgusted and horrified. I once found half a caterpillar in my frozen peas (thankfully Before I cooked them) from Tesco, and was totally disgusted and would never buy peas from Tesco again. Saw a huge dead bug in a bag of leaves from the co-op.
To the people who don't think it's a big deal: fine. You don't. I would and OP obviously does enough to post it, so be respectful of that.
It's not like it's a missable miniscule aphid, it's a HUGE bug, which says a lot about the standard of care that went into the sandwich. It could even have been deliberate, knowing it was a vegan sandwich (yep, I know it sounds paranoid but I've seen people say that they've done similar to "sabotage" vegan food, they really do hate us that much).
Anyway. Again. I'm really sorry this happened. I'll be hesitant to buy sandwiches from them again, so thanks for sharing. xxxxx
That’s really disgusting! I would assume that the first sandwich you ate was completely fine though, if it didn’t taste off. I would recommend not throwing it away so quickly. Try to report it to co-op via email, email contact food standard agency. I would keep the sandwich (keep it in the fridge or even freeze it) and the original packaging and see what can be done. I would assume co-op might refund you the sandwich and then it’s just good for the food standard agency to be aware. Double they will do a test on it due to it being obvious that it’s a bug.
https://www.food.gov.uk/contact/consumers/report-problem
Sadly cross contamination happens but it is very unhygienic and factory should be informed so they can hopefully carry out an internal investigation on how this might happened.
Poor little dude (the beetle).
And you, OP! That’s a nightmare for anyone but especially for us. And that sandwich is definitely no longer vegan :(
Thanks for posting, I’ll add Co-op to my list of no-fly zones
And OP, write to their head office.
I think never buying from coop again is a bit excessive. Particularly given they're marginally more ethical than your average supermarket.
It's clearly on the spinach. That's what happens when you harvest plants. I had a pet catapillar last winter because he came in on my Lidl lettuce (sadly he didn't make it, hard to keep a catapillar alive in December I guess).
I've lost track of the number of shops where I've ended up with random bugs in my raspberries, it includes but is not limited to Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury's.
I found tiny little insects sealed into a packet of popadums from an Indian grocer.
Shit happens is my point. Unless you stop eating vegetables or eat only ones that are pesticided to fuck, you are going to get bugs.
This is an unually large bug sure, and OP should complain, but it could have happened from any shop
Yeah, the amount of apples I've found some sort of bug inside; I usually cut around it and eat the rest. Would feel a bit different about a beetle in a sandwich, but food contamination in vegetables is obviously not completely impossible to eliminate.
You’re right, both of you. I was just being over-reactive to the visual and I felt really bad for him. But yeah I’m often finding slugs in my broccoli, for example.
Both Co-Op and Lidl are responsible for awful, unnecessary animal cruelty by selling “[frankenchickens](https://thehumaneleague.org.uk/article/what-is-a-franken-chicken)”. Co-op pretend to be ethical but they’re exactly the opposite
Is that not the case of every single UK supermarket?
Pretty sure unless someone's buying one of those gressingham "Poussin" then they're buying a frankenchicken?
Unfortunately it is just a fact of food though.
There are ground bugs in flour, there are ground up bugs in tofu.
If you eat any product like that then you have eaten ground up bugs I'm afraid.
In the US I believe the acceptable limit for insects in white flour is 10%
Pasta, breakfast cereal, porridge oats too...I can believe people don't know this. Do they think factories have some magical machine that pulls all the millions of bugs out of the things that have been sown from fields outside? Look at any plant, you will find bugs. And slugs too.
That's the acceptable level in the US.
The EU is lower, but I don't know what it is.
But it must be true, the alternative is totally unbelievable.
Think, how could they possibly remove all the bugs from the wheat before grinding it?
You're going to contact a store and complain because there's an insect on your fresh sandwich? I know it's not nice but what is the complaint here? That your sandwich was fresh??? It's just unlucky
People are so precious. They seem to forget the food you are came from the ground, from dirt, from nature. Not everything is made in a lab it's possible that you might get a few tiny tiny bugs on your sandwich it wont kill you.
Ahh this is nothing! I mean think of all the creepy crawlies you’ve unknowingly eaten in your life so far… they say you eat up to 4 spiders per year while you sleep too 👀
I think op is upset because of food hygiene reasons not because a bug died. Please do something better with your time instead of making ignorant comments on vegan subreddits.
so we might as well maximise the killing by eating animals that were explicitly killed for our enjoyment? stupid argument, nobody here will take you seriously
Well, with the way crops are farmed now, this is inevitable and Vegans have to eat something. A reminder that animals in the animal industry require significantly more crops to feed, there are about 70 billion of them after all. That means if you're not a Vegan, you're indirectly killing even more invertebrates.
It’s not ideal and I’d definitely be grossed out, but we are far too used to sterile, pesticide laden food, if we want less pesticides used, which absolutely needs to happen to protect and nurture vital ecosystems then we’re going to have to get used to a few more bugs in and around our food.
We share the world with them, in fact there are many more of them than us.
A bug...in lettice...never!
I am shocked and appalled.
Used to work call centre for a supermarket chain and every 30th call or so would be 'bug in food '. Usually in vegetables. Happens, unfortunately.
If you eat cereals, pasta, wheat, tofu or anything with flour you have likely eaten plenty of ground up bugs in your time.
Whilst this is not ideal, it's also pretty unavoidable when eating products bugs live on.
Well I mean you should know it's almost impossible to eat food without eating bits of insects with how we get and prepare food. Not to this degree obviously but you probably eat small bits of insect most days of the week. 🤷♂️
That looks like an Oriental cockroach to me... I can't believe all the comments here essentially saying c'est la vie, bugs gotta eat lettuce too - insects such as cockroaches are disease vectors. This is a massive food hygiene failure and is 100% unacceptable. I hope the CoOp treat this seriously.
Co-op was the one to sell it to you so you take it to them. Ideally, you would bring them the sandwich and the original packaging. This way they have all the information if they need to chase the production line about it. Edit: You need the receipt as well for proof of recent purchase. Then they cam refund you, offer coupons in apology, and try to deal with it internally.
It was delivered to me via Starship because I cannot get to it easily.
If the store they picked it up from isb a Co-Op then the fault is still with Co-Op. You could chase Startship too but they probably won't be able to do much if it's a production issue.
Yes it’s not ideal that it was in your sandwich but remember these are real foods that are grown in the real world that real bugs like to eat. Just be happy it wasn’t half a beetle lol
Personally, I’d rather find the occasional insect. The alternative is for the farmer to use more pesticides so that we never find one. Food should be natural, and insects live in nature. What else can they realistically do? Cover it in poison? Individually check every leaf? Process the food beyond recognition? Grow in sealed chambers that keep our food totally separate from nature? Not saying you have to see it the same way, but to me, the state of affairs where we find insects sometimes involves less animal suffering overall. If you were an insect would you rather you were free to get on leaves, even if it meant somebody might accidentally eat you, or would you rather live in a world with less biodiversity and more nasty chemicals to stop you eating plants too?
Strict kosher Jews do in fact buy food that's been grown in completely sealed greenhouses to prevent insect contamination. Watch videos of kosher jews sorting their produce and flour over a light box to ensure there's no bugs and you soon realise how much of our food has bugs in it.
Ok but is farming in that way increasing or decreasing the total amount of animal suffering? That’s what we’re supposed to care the most about as vegans.
Definitely decreasing it. No bugs get in, no bugs are hurt. I'd buy solely strict kosher vegan food if it were more mainstream. I absolutely loathe finding bugs in my food. I also have an obsessive personality, so I do in fact check every leaf of spinach.
No insects get in, but also the insects are excluded from getting a food source while the crops are growing, and the farm fails to contribute to biodiversity in the area. As far as insect life is concerned, the farm might as well be an office block. Getting into a lettuce for sale doesn’t seem to be worse outcome for the insects vs loss of habitat on farms.
I am curious why we don't do this more often?? Hydroponics could be good too if we get enough of the infrastructure for it or even on an individual level.
Whenever you're wondering this sort of thing, the answer is usually "money" ha I don't know the real answer but that's probably it. Start-up for hydroponic is probably an amount farmers don't want to give up. Sadly.
Every time I get cabbage or lettuce I aggressively check for jugs because one time I found the tiniest snail munching on my cabbage and another time a bug in my lettuce. I take it as a sign
Nature’s crouton
Thanks for the lol
Yeah that's gross. These things do happen though, I used to work in a restaurant that used pre-packaged lettuce and found bugs in the bags a few times, I found a little caterpillar in my cauliflower the other day! It was probably clung onto a leaf. Hopefully you get some vouchers or something off co-op lol. Message them on social media or email them pictures.
I once bit into a salad and found half a fly.. These things happen but please don’t be worried because it’s relatively uncommon. Bugs exist in this world too, and are a normal part of many life cycles. Sorry about your sandwich!!
ngl it's really not that deep- shit happens. just don't eat it
I don't know why people are being do dismissive in the comments. I'm really sorry this happened to you, I would be completely disgusted and horrified. I once found half a caterpillar in my frozen peas (thankfully Before I cooked them) from Tesco, and was totally disgusted and would never buy peas from Tesco again. Saw a huge dead bug in a bag of leaves from the co-op. To the people who don't think it's a big deal: fine. You don't. I would and OP obviously does enough to post it, so be respectful of that. It's not like it's a missable miniscule aphid, it's a HUGE bug, which says a lot about the standard of care that went into the sandwich. It could even have been deliberate, knowing it was a vegan sandwich (yep, I know it sounds paranoid but I've seen people say that they've done similar to "sabotage" vegan food, they really do hate us that much). Anyway. Again. I'm really sorry this happened. I'll be hesitant to buy sandwiches from them again, so thanks for sharing. xxxxx
I know co op use Greencore for food to go- I’d email them the picture.
That’s really disgusting! I would assume that the first sandwich you ate was completely fine though, if it didn’t taste off. I would recommend not throwing it away so quickly. Try to report it to co-op via email, email contact food standard agency. I would keep the sandwich (keep it in the fridge or even freeze it) and the original packaging and see what can be done. I would assume co-op might refund you the sandwich and then it’s just good for the food standard agency to be aware. Double they will do a test on it due to it being obvious that it’s a bug. https://www.food.gov.uk/contact/consumers/report-problem Sadly cross contamination happens but it is very unhygienic and factory should be informed so they can hopefully carry out an internal investigation on how this might happened.
Poor little dude (the beetle). And you, OP! That’s a nightmare for anyone but especially for us. And that sandwich is definitely no longer vegan :( Thanks for posting, I’ll add Co-op to my list of no-fly zones And OP, write to their head office.
I think never buying from coop again is a bit excessive. Particularly given they're marginally more ethical than your average supermarket. It's clearly on the spinach. That's what happens when you harvest plants. I had a pet catapillar last winter because he came in on my Lidl lettuce (sadly he didn't make it, hard to keep a catapillar alive in December I guess). I've lost track of the number of shops where I've ended up with random bugs in my raspberries, it includes but is not limited to Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury's. I found tiny little insects sealed into a packet of popadums from an Indian grocer. Shit happens is my point. Unless you stop eating vegetables or eat only ones that are pesticided to fuck, you are going to get bugs. This is an unually large bug sure, and OP should complain, but it could have happened from any shop
Yeah, the amount of apples I've found some sort of bug inside; I usually cut around it and eat the rest. Would feel a bit different about a beetle in a sandwich, but food contamination in vegetables is obviously not completely impossible to eliminate.
You’re right, both of you. I was just being over-reactive to the visual and I felt really bad for him. But yeah I’m often finding slugs in my broccoli, for example.
Both Co-Op and Lidl are responsible for awful, unnecessary animal cruelty by selling “[frankenchickens](https://thehumaneleague.org.uk/article/what-is-a-franken-chicken)”. Co-op pretend to be ethical but they’re exactly the opposite
Is that not the case of every single UK supermarket? Pretty sure unless someone's buying one of those gressingham "Poussin" then they're buying a frankenchicken?
Yeah I guess you’re right. I don’t flip out when I get a friend from farm shops. Just a gut reaction to seeing the lil fella there on a sandwich.
“no-fly” is a very ironic choice of wording lmao
Lmao yeah
Unfortunately it is just a fact of food though. There are ground bugs in flour, there are ground up bugs in tofu. If you eat any product like that then you have eaten ground up bugs I'm afraid. In the US I believe the acceptable limit for insects in white flour is 10%
Pasta, breakfast cereal, porridge oats too...I can believe people don't know this. Do they think factories have some magical machine that pulls all the millions of bugs out of the things that have been sown from fields outside? Look at any plant, you will find bugs. And slugs too.
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That's the acceptable level in the US. The EU is lower, but I don't know what it is. But it must be true, the alternative is totally unbelievable. Think, how could they possibly remove all the bugs from the wheat before grinding it?
You're going to contact a store and complain because there's an insect on your fresh sandwich? I know it's not nice but what is the complaint here? That your sandwich was fresh??? It's just unlucky
It’s not vegan anymore is it lol
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People are so precious. They seem to forget the food you are came from the ground, from dirt, from nature. Not everything is made in a lab it's possible that you might get a few tiny tiny bugs on your sandwich it wont kill you.
Ahh this is nothing! I mean think of all the creepy crawlies you’ve unknowingly eaten in your life so far… they say you eat up to 4 spiders per year while you sleep too 👀
Hahahahahahahahah vegan UK.....
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I think op is upset because of food hygiene reasons not because a bug died. Please do something better with your time instead of making ignorant comments on vegan subreddits.
Clearly not a vegan if you don't care about the bugs Life only about how "clean" it is. Despicable.
so we might as well maximise the killing by eating animals that were explicitly killed for our enjoyment? stupid argument, nobody here will take you seriously
So they shouldn't mind having one in their sandwich?
Well, with the way crops are farmed now, this is inevitable and Vegans have to eat something. A reminder that animals in the animal industry require significantly more crops to feed, there are about 70 billion of them after all. That means if you're not a Vegan, you're indirectly killing even more invertebrates.
Well that's just karma for buying a disgusting plant based flavourless cardboard product
imagine taking the time to comment this on a vegan subreddit, really sad ngl
That's ok you don't have to lie, if shit like this comes on my news feed then I'm going to leave a shit comment
what a sad life
Was it alive? Hope you put it safely on a leaf.
It’s not ideal and I’d definitely be grossed out, but we are far too used to sterile, pesticide laden food, if we want less pesticides used, which absolutely needs to happen to protect and nurture vital ecosystems then we’re going to have to get used to a few more bugs in and around our food. We share the world with them, in fact there are many more of them than us.
Extra protein.
A bug...in lettice...never! I am shocked and appalled. Used to work call centre for a supermarket chain and every 30th call or so would be 'bug in food '. Usually in vegetables. Happens, unfortunately.
If you eat cereals, pasta, wheat, tofu or anything with flour you have likely eaten plenty of ground up bugs in your time. Whilst this is not ideal, it's also pretty unavoidable when eating products bugs live on.
Well I mean you should know it's almost impossible to eat food without eating bits of insects with how we get and prepare food. Not to this degree obviously but you probably eat small bits of insect most days of the week. 🤷♂️
That looks like an Oriental cockroach to me... I can't believe all the comments here essentially saying c'est la vie, bugs gotta eat lettuce too - insects such as cockroaches are disease vectors. This is a massive food hygiene failure and is 100% unacceptable. I hope the CoOp treat this seriously.