Diner finds ‘disgusting maggot’ in Toby Carvery meal
Robyn Phillips posted her complaint on Facebook last month (28 September), with images of the food and the ‘maggot’. Toby Carvery responded to the post and said the creepy crawly was, in fact, a caterpillar.
Phillips visited the Toby Carvery in Chelmsford and advised other diners not to eat there following her experience.
Her Facebook post said: “Just to let everything know… I would NOT eat in Chelmsford Toby Carvery as I found a big maggot in my food.
“Not what I expect when I go out for a meal Disgusting!!! Won’t be going back there again! If anyone wants to share the post that likes carvery then feel free as I think people should no (sic)."
Unacceptable
It added: “Specially (sic) when I’m not the first person to say this has happened to them in the same place! #disgusted
“NOTE – just to let everyone no (sic) someone went in there today (28 September) and the manager confirmed it was a caterpillar!
“And that apparently it happens a lot! Unacceptable. If anyone has been there and is unwell… report it like I have ASAP!!”
The post has had 6,500 shares on the social media site, more than 60 comments and 760 reactions at the time of publication.
Comments included other diners claiming they had previously seen ants in a salt bottle as well as “a strange little worm” at the pub.
Extra vigilant
Another user advised Phillips to report the incident to food standards and claimed the pub needed to be shut down.
A spokesperson for Toby Carvery said: “We apologise to any guests who have heard about this incident and want to assure them that we take food safety standards very seriously.
“All of our vegetables and salad items are washed before cooking but we will remind our team to be extra vigilant when dealing with fresh produce.
“Although it is extremely rare to find caterpillars in produce, we appreciate guests may have been concerned and we want to take the opportunity to reassure them that maintaining high food safety standards is very important to all at Toby Carvery.”
