Supermarket company Asda is reportedly facing legal action over a customer’s claims that she found a dead frog in a bottle of wine.
Isolde Beesley claims that on Boxing Day 2009, whilst pouring a glass of Moscatel de Valencia (a white dessert wine from Spain, costing £3.58) she bought from Asda three days earlier, a dead frog the size of her thumbnail fell out into the glass. Ms Beesley, from Leicestershire, also claims that she suffered from stomach pains as a result of drinking some of the allegedly contaminated wine.
Ms Beesley has subsequently handed both the bottle and the frog to officials from trading standards and environmental health for inspection, whilst Asda has temporarily removed the wine from its stores. She is also consulting legal advisors with a lawsuit against Asda in mind, accusing the company of selling a product which is contaminated or unfit for consumption.
Asda are reportedly baffled by the incident, with a spokesperson claiming:
“We are at a total loss as to how this could have happened,”
“It’s nigh on impossible for any object to find its way into a bottle of wine when it is being produced.”
This is a major product liability issue for Asda, but like many other retailers, it is likely that the company will have some form of professional insurance in place to protect against the potential financial cost of complaints like this.