Perth woman finds mouse inside packaged spinach

  • 14/01/2019
Perth woman finds mouse inside packaged spinach
Photo credit: Sukhdeep Gill Sandhu/Facebook

A Perth mother says she nearly vomited when she saw what appeared to be a dead mouse in a sealed packet of spinach. 

Sukhdeep Gill Sandhu was with her nine-year-old daughter at a Spudshed in Perth when she went to do some shopping on Sunday morning.

She posted a picture of the spinach with what appears to have a mouse inside the packet. 

"To my surprise when I picked up the bag I saw a dead mouse in the sealed packet," she wrote.

"I talked to the store manager and got the whole lot removed from there. But I am still thinking that where is the quality check? They are selling dead mice hidden in sealed packets."

Ms Sandhu told The Age she "felt like vomiting" when she saw the mouse. 

She said store staff were very apologetic, shocked and surprised. 

"I never had problems there before."

After sharing her post on Facebook, Ms Sandhu got a reply from the producer of the packaged spinach,  Supafresh Salads. 

"My name is Troy Cukrov. We are a family business that has been growing and processing salads in WA for nearly 20 years," the post read. 

"We grow and process over 40 tonnes of Baby Spinach leaf every week. We have every possible inspection and prevention within our process. Our crops are grown in open fields. We have rodent traps throughout our farms. We have insect agitators on our harvesters. We have rodent traps throughout our factory."

Mr Cukrov said all the salads are double washed.

"We have inspection belts throughout the factory where the product is inspected during washing. We visually inspect during washing. We visually inspect every bag before we pack it. We do everything possible to deliver the cleanest, freshest product practical.

"This is the first time we have ever had a problem like this in a bag of our product in the millions and millions of bags we have supplied throughout Western Australia. Unfortunately, we deal in nature and farming is a constant challenge."

He says pressure from insects this summer has been the worst he has seen making it extremely challenging to manage all pests.

"We are doing everything practical and trying our best. I have failed in this case and for that we are truly and humbly sorry. I apologise unreservedly. I hope that you all understand the challenges that we face in farming in nature and I plead with you to support us and understand."

He said he would love to speak with Ms Sandhu to apologise personally. 

Newshub.