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A man has vowed to "never return" to a Hull Aldi store after purchasing a pack of pastrami that was one day out-of-date.

Darren Rhodes, of Roslyn Road, west Hull, popped into his local Aldi store in Anlaby Road on November 24 to buy his usual weekly shop, picking up a packet of pastrami in the process.

The following morning, as Mr Rhodes put together his sandwiches for work, he was left disgusted after spotting that the pack of meat went out of date the day before he bought it.

He said: “I asked my wife, because I’m short-sighted, if I was seeing things and she said no it’s dated the 23rd.

“I could have been really ill. It is not something out of a tin it’s fresh cut meat. If you bite into it in the next 24 hours you could be given food poisoning. I could have been in Hull Royal.

(Image: Jerome Ellerby)

“When you go to the shop you don’t expect a product to be out of date. You just buy it, especially if you’re in a rush.

"I don't look at dates when I go to the supermarket. If everybody did there would be queues right down Anlaby Road.”

Mr Rhodes claims that he saw twenty packets of pastrami on the shelf at the time he went shopping, but admits that he does not check the use-by dates at supermarkets.

The 49-year-old contacted Aldi’s customer service team, who quickly responded to his complaint on the day by calling him back and offering him a full refund in-store.

However, Mr Rhodes was unhappy with this resolution.

“They said just take it back and we will offer you a full refund. That was it. To me, a £1.24 apology is not enough.”

(Image: Jerome Ellerby)

He then contacted Hull City Council’s Environmental Health team hoping they could help with his complaint.

However, he is still waiting for their response, one week after getting in touch with them.

He said: “Environmental Health said they would be in touch in two days and asked for the receipt. I never opened the packet of meat.

“That was last week. What gets me is that the meat is still in my fridge because they told me not to dump it. It could stink my fridge out.

“I have had no letter from Aldi or the Environmental Health. Something has gone wrong along the line.”

(Image: Jerome Ellerby)

Aldi have confirmed that Mr Rhodes was offered a full refund after he contacted their customer service team and that he has not been in touch since that call or returned the item in-store.

But Mr Rhodes feels that more should be done and has vowed to “never return” to an Aldi store again.

“If I did go back there I would check everything,” said Mr Rhodes.

“I’m disgusted with Aldi and I should have had an apology or a goodwill gesture. But I have heard nothing.

“To me, it’s stupid. I work in a factory and if you get out of date stuff it gets put in the bin.

“It is illegal to sell out of date meat. I want an apology off Aldi and I want the shop to be shut and checked over for a day.

“They should check everything is in date and put in a better system. The staff need training.”

An Aldi spokesperson said: “We are sorry for any inconvenience this has caused and are happy to provide a full refund for any products our customers are not happy with.”

Hull City Council are currently investigating Mr Rhodes' complaint and say they have made contact with him.

Rachel Stephenson, food safety manager at Hull City Council, said: “We are currently investigating the complaint made about selling food past its use by date at the Aldi Supermarket and have now made contact with the member of the public involved.

"It is an offence to sell food past its use by date, and supermarkets must operate with due diligence to make sure this does not occur.

"Although this particular member of the public was fully aware of the requirements, further information can be found on the Food Standards Agency website on this important subject”.

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