A MUM had a nasty shock when she opened a tin of baked beans to find an unidentified floating object.

Sally Lonsdale recoiled in horror after peeling back the lid of the can of Tesco value beans to find an organic-looking grey and black foreign body amidst the contents.

She was cooking lunch for two of her children and her granddaughter when she made the grim discovery.

Mrs Lonsdale bought the beans from the Tesco store in St Peter’s Worcester, about five weeks ago, then put it in the cupboard. The sell-by date read March 2012, but her stomach turned when she saw what was in the tin.

The mum-of-three said: “It was a shock to see this thing floating on the top. I was cooking the beans for the kids’ tea, so my other thought was ‘what am I going to fix for them now’.’’ The 44-year-old called the store where she bought the can, where she was put on hold then asked to bring the tin in for an exchange.

She said: “I live in Malvern and I wasn’t going to drive to Worcester or Ledbury for the sake of a tin of beans.

“They told me if I couldn’t bring it in, they couldn’t do anything. They didn’t take my name or phone number to ring me back either, so they weren’t terribly helpful.

“I usually buy Branston beans, but I sent my husband to buy them and he brought the value beans back. I won’t be buying that brand again.”

A Tesco spokesman said: “Our white label goods are produced by third parties and so unless the item was returned to us, we cannot make checks to see what went wrong. We treat food safety as a priority.

“If the customer returns the product to the store, we will investigate with our supplier.”

Your Worcester News has passed the contents to the county council regulatory services experts for investigation.