The mum and son ate several of the nuggets before seeing something was wrong
A mum and son both fell ill the day after eating nuggets from McDonald’s, which they saw were infested with maggots. Susan Badham says she saw ‘worms’ wiggling around in her 20-nugget box after she and her son had already eaten some of the food.
The 47-year-old says she and her son, William, 10, were left with food poisoning after visiting the drive-thru at Medway City Estate in Strood. Ms Badham, a counsellor, ordered the box with dips, as well as a Filet-O-Fish and two McFlurrys. However, as they were driving back to their home in High Halstow and tucking into the sharebox, her son said: “Mummy, there’s a worm in the nugget”.
Assuming he had made a mistake, Ms Badham, who was driving and couldn’t check the box, told him there was nothing wrong and she continued to eat the nuggets. It wasn’t until she returned home and looked in the box that she says she saw “around five maggots,” including one “trapped in the batter” of the nuggets.
She said: “My son refused to eat them and I carried on. When I got home and looked in the box, I couldn’t believe it. Maggots were wriggling about, and I’d just eaten them.”
The mother-of-one rang the branch with no luck, emailed its customer service team, and also Medway Council’s health and safety department. She said nobody replied for around a week and she laughed when McDonald’s eventually responded to offer her four free meals.
Ms Badham, of Longfield Avenue, says she’s frustrated at the response to the situation and wants others to keep their eyes peeled. She said: “The fact is they were there and something needs to be done. I don’t want people eating maggots.”
Despite McDonald’s offer of free food vouchers, the psychotherapist said she would never eat there again. “Why would I want to go and have four more maggot meals? I was a bit shocked. I can’t believe they offered me four free meals. I never want to eat there again – and I love McDonald’s!”
The following day, things got worse, when she and her son became ill. “We were sick and had diarrhoea,” she explained. “I was worse, but maybe that’s because I ate more. It makes you think if all this time I’d eaten maggots beneath the batter without knowing?”
She added: “I was disgusted, shocked and a bit annoyed. How many other people are eating these and getting ill and not knowing? If my son wasn’t there, I’d have eaten the rest and not known.”
A hygiene inspector was sent to the branch in Anthony’s Way as a result of the report. A McDonald’s spokesman said: “We are sorry to hear about this customer’s experience. We take food safety extremely seriously and have rigorous procedures in place to maintain the highest standards across all our restaurants.
“Following an inspection by the local authority, they confirmed that we were meeting all food safety standards and found no issues of concern. We understand the customer is in contact with our customer services team.”
A Medway Council spokesman said: “Following an email from a resident, one of our officers visited the restaurant to speak with the management. While there they inspected both the kitchen and storeroom and found no evidence of any pest activity.”
