{"id":7540,"date":"2025-01-24T01:21:55","date_gmt":"2025-01-24T01:21:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/momentsunfolded.com\/?p=7540"},"modified":"2025-01-24T01:21:58","modified_gmt":"2025-01-24T01:21:58","slug":"shocking-encounter-mans-horrifying-discovery-inside-bag-of-aldi-bought-broccoli-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/momentsunfolded.com\/archives\/7540","title":{"rendered":"Shocking Encounter: Man\u2019s Horrifying Discovery Inside Bag of Aldi-Bought Broccoli\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<header class='\"entry-header\"'>\n<div class='\"entry-content\"'>\n<div class='\"wp-block-group' is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained>\n<figure class='\"alignwide' wp-block-post-featured-image><img loading='\"lazy\"' decoding='\"async\"' class='\"attachment-post-thumbnail' size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image src="%5C%22https:%5C/%5C/www.viral-stories.online%5C/wp-content%5C/uploads%5C/2024%5C/02%5C/AFT-25.png%5C%22" sizes='\"auto,' srcset='\"https:\/\/www.viral-stories.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/AFT-25.png' https: alt='\"\"' width='\"550\"' height='\"290\"'>\n<hr class='\"wp-block-separator' has-css-opacity alignwide is-style-wide>\n\n<div class='\"entry-content' wp-block-post-content is-layout-constrained wp-block-post-content-is-layout-constrained>\n<p>A man who went to a supermarket to get some groceries came back with a snake and didn\u2019t realize it until after the animal got familiar with his food.\n</p><div class='\"g' g-3>\n<div class='\"g-single' a-26>\n<div id='\"M837594ScriptRootC1539666_10024\"'>\n<div id='\"AdskeeperComposite1539666_10024\"'>\n\n\n\n<p>Last month, 63-year-old Neville Linton bought a bag of broccoli from an Aldi branch in Sturbridge, England, and stored it in his fridge before taking it out to prepare a meal three days later.\n</p><p>But when he unwrapped the broccoli, however, the man immediately saw the unexpected guest. Continue scrolling to learn how the ordeal went down and don\u2019t miss the talk we had about it with Dr. Steven J R Allain, aka\u00a0<em>The pop-punk Herpetologist.\n<div class='\"g' g-4>\n<div class='\"g-single' a-27>\n<div id='\"M837594ScriptRootC1539675_08bfc\"'>\n<div id='\"AdskeeperComposite1539675_08bfc\"'>\n\n\n\n<h3 class='\"wp-block-heading\"'>A snake that was exploring a broccoli field somewhere in southwestern Europe got packed up and shipped to a British supermarket\n<figure class='\"wp-block-image\"'><img decoding='\"async\"' title='\"Man' receives shock of a lifetime after finding snake inside bag broccoli demands compensation src="%5C%22https:%5C/%5C/www.boredpanda.com%5C/blog%5C/wp-content%5C/uploads%5C/2023%5C/07%5C/man-finds-snake-in-broccoli-aldi-64a2711c8a3e3__700.jpg%5C%22" alt='\"Man'>\n<h3 class='\"wp-block-heading\"'>Without suspecting, Neville Linton, 63, picked it up together with a bag of vegetables and took the reptile home\n<figure class='\"wp-block-image\"'><img decoding='\"async\"' title='\"Man' receives shock of a lifetime after finding snake inside bag broccoli demands compensation src="%5C%22https:%5C/%5C/www.boredpanda.com%5C/blog%5C/wp-content%5C/uploads%5C/2023%5C/07%5C/man-finds-snake-in-bag-of-broccoli-aldi-7-64a26be16c711__700.jpg%5C%22" alt='\"Man'>\n<p>Neville, who works in industrial cleaning, couldn\u2019t believe his eyes.\n</p><p>\u201cIt was pretty frightening. I\u2019m not good with snakes,\u201d he\u00a0said. \u201cIt\u2019s lucky I didn\u2019t just leave the broccoli out in the kitchen, or it would have been loose in the house.\u201d\n</p><div class='\"g' g-5>\n<div class='\"g-single' a-28>\n<div id='\"M837594ScriptRootC1540666_0e636\"'>\n<div id='\"AdskeeperComposite1540666_0e636\"'>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThat would have been a huge risk for us because we have two vulnerable people living here.\u201d\n</p><div class='\"g' g-8>\n<div class='\"g-single' a-29>\n<div id='\"M837594ScriptRootC1540668_0d597\"'>\n<div id='\"AdskeeperComposite1540668_0d597\"'>\n\n\n\n<p>Once he realized the creature was too big to be a caterpillar, he called his sister Ann-Marie Tenkanemin for help and she identified it as a snake.\n</p><div class='\"g' g-6>\n<div class='\"g-single' a-30>\n<div id='\"M837594ScriptRootC1540669_0dc40\"'>\n<div id='\"AdskeeperComposite1540669_0dc40\"'>\n\n\n\n<p>The pair popped it in a tub and went back to the Aldi store on Dudley Road where Neville made the purchase.\n</p><p>\u201cI thought she was joking at first, but I backed off when I saw it start moving. The guy in the shop was pretty frightened too,\u201d he said.\n</p><h3 class='\"wp-block-heading\"'>The snake was taken to a local zoo and its specialists determined that it was a young ladder snake\n<figure class='\"wp-block-image\"'><img decoding='\"async\"' title='\"Man' receives shock of a lifetime after finding snake inside bag broccoli demands compensation src="%5C%22https:%5C/%5C/www.boredpanda.com%5C/blog%5C/wp-content%5C/uploads%5C/2023%5C/07%5C/man-finds-snake-in-bag-of-broccoli-aldi-6-64a26bdda2c59__700.jpg%5C%22" alt='\"Man'>\n<h3 class='\"wp-block-heading\"'>But herpetologist Dr. Steven J R Allain suspects it might be a viperine water snake\n<figure class='\"wp-block-image\"'><img decoding='\"async\"' class='\"wp-image-5451063\"' title='\"Man' receives shock of a lifetime after finding snake inside bag broccoli demands compensation src="%5C%22https:%5C/%5C/www.boredpanda.com%5C/blog%5C/wp-content%5C/uploads%5C/2023%5C/07%5C/man-finds-snake-in-bag-of-broccoli-aldi-9.jpg%5C%22" alt='\"Man'>\n<p>The reptile was transported to Dudley Zoo, and its staff believe it to be a young ladder snake. However,\u00a0<strong>Bored Panda\u00a0got in touch with\u00a0Dr. Steven J R Allain\u00a0and he tends to disagree.\n<p>\u201cHaving reviewed\u00a0the [actual] photo\u00a0of the snake in the broccoli, I am not sure the zoo identified the species correctly,\u201d Allain told us. \u201cTo my expert eyes, the snake is in fact a viperine water snake (Natrix maura), which is a harmless fish-eating species found throughout southwestern Europe and northern Africa.\u201d\n</p><p>Allain is a zoology graduate from Anglia Ruskin University, a Master\u2019s graduate from Imperial College London, and a current Ph.D. student at the University of Kent. His current area of research is primarily based around barred grass snake (Natrix helvetica) population ecology and the effects of ophidiomycosis, but he\u2019s also interested in amphibian disease and population ecology.\n</p><p>\u201cSeeing as a large portion of the food grown and imported into the United Kingdom comes from the Mediterranean region, it is no surprise to find a species from this area turning up in some vegetables likely grown there. In my opinion, the snake was likely moving through the field at the time, before being scooped up by agricultural equipment, then seeking refuge within the broccoli.\u201d\n<figure class='\"wp-block-image\"'><img decoding='\"async\"' title='\"Man' receives shock of a lifetime after finding snake inside bag broccoli demands compensation src="%5C%22https:%5C/%5C/www.boredpanda.com%5C/blog%5C/wp-content%5C/uploads%5C/2023%5C/07%5C/man-finds-snake-in-bag-of-broccoli-aldi-5-64a268a86301f__700.jpg%5C%22" alt='\"Man'>\n<p>The trip to the UK and then another one to Neville\u2019s home took some time, but Allain said that these snakes are able to go a couple of months without food, and the chilling of the fridge would have helped keep its metabolism low, reducing the body\u2019s energy demands.\n</p><p>\u201cHowever, I can\u2019t imagine it would have been comfortable,\u201d he added. \u201cEspecially the rapid transition from the warm Mediterranean climate to a chiller, in order to keep the broccoli fresh.\u201d\n</p><p>\u201cViperine water snakes are dangerous only if you\u2019re a fish (or a frog). They do not bite humans as a defense mechanism (they\u2019d much rather play dead), and they are regarded as non-venomous to humans.\u201d\n</p><p>\u201cI know this must have been a distressing time for Neville (especially for someone with a fear of snakes), but his reaction could have been more positive through more widespread education and understanding of snakes, and how to deal with situations like this,\u201d Allain said. \u201cIt isn\u2019t the snake\u2019s fault that it ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time, but hopefully its new home at Dudley Zoo can help with breaking down these fears of snakes.\u201d\n<figure class='\"wp-block-image\"'><img decoding='\"async\"' title='\"Man' receives shock of a lifetime after finding snake inside bag broccoli demands compensation src="%5C%22https:%5C/%5C/www.boredpanda.com%5C/blog%5C/wp-content%5C/uploads%5C/2023%5C/07%5C/man-finds-snake-in-bag-of-broccoli-aldi-3-64a2685adc83c__700.jpg%5C%22" alt='\"Man'>\n<h3 class='\"wp-block-heading\"'>Neville is trying to get compensated for having to go through all of this\n<figure class='\"wp-block-image\"'><img decoding='\"async\"' title='\"Man' receives shock of a lifetime after finding snake inside bag broccoli demands compensation src="%5C%22https:%5C/%5C/www.boredpanda.com%5C/blog%5C/wp-content%5C/uploads%5C/2023%5C/07%5C/man-finds-snake-in-bag-of-broccoli-aldi-4-64a26860aaeeb__700.jpg%5C%22" alt='\"Man'>\n<p>Neville has been offered compensation but is trying to get more.\n</p><p>The father-of-three said the amount he heard didn\u2019t sound fair because of the risk to his disabled son and vulnerable mother-in-law, who live under the same roof.\n</p><p>\u201cIt\u2019s just not good enough,\u201d he added. \u201cThe implications for us if it had got out in the house are huge. Plus, I\u2019m phobic of snakes so there\u2019s the emotional impact of that too.\u201d\n</p><p>An Aldi spokesperson reported: \u201cOur supplier has never had a complaint of this nature and has robust processes in place to prevent such issues occurring.\u201d\n</p><p>\u201cWe are investigating this isolated incident and have apologized to Mr. Linton that our usual high standards were not met.\u201d\n</p><h3 class='\"wp-block-heading\"'>After the local news picked up the story, people had all sorts of reactions\n<figure class='\"wp-block-image\"'><img decoding='\"async\"' title='\"Man' receives shock of a lifetime after finding snake inside bag broccoli demands compensation src="%5C%22https:%5C/%5C/www.boredpanda.com%5C/blog%5C/wp-content%5C/uploads%5C/2023%5C/07%5C/pfbid02vDg3MA2qTVEtHxjRo95Q2Da6KgRiRfEKaX8Mas9b6mqGeU6rRpXRikbg6mJDEry2lcomment_id174618145441038-png__700.jpg%5C%22" alt='\"Man'>\n<figure class='\"wp-block-image\"'><img decoding='\"async\"' title='\"Man' receives shock of a lifetime after finding snake inside bag broccoli demands compensation src="%5C%22https:%5C/%5C/www.boredpanda.com%5C/blog%5C/wp-content%5C/uploads%5C/2023%5C/07%5C/pfbid02vDg3MA2qTVEtHxjRo95Q2Da6KgRiRfEKaX8Mas9b6mqGeU6rRpXRikbg6mJDEry2lcomment_id605631411711672-png__700.jpg%5C%22" alt='\"Man'>\n<figure class='\"wp-block-image\"'><img decoding='\"async\"' title='\"Man' receives shock of a lifetime after finding snake inside bag broccoli demands compensation src="%5C%22https:%5C/%5C/www.boredpanda.com%5C/blog%5C/wp-content%5C/uploads%5C/2023%5C/07%5C/pfbid02vDg3MA2qTVEtHxjRo95Q2Da6KgRiRfEKaX8Mas9b6mqGeU6rRpXRikbg6mJDEry2lcomment_id1298415834382782-png__700.jpg%5C%22" alt='\"Man'>\n<figure class='\"wp-block-image\"'><img decoding='\"async\"' title='\"Man' receives shock of a lifetime after finding snake inside bag broccoli demands compensation src="%5C%22https:%5C/%5C/www.boredpanda.com%5C/blog%5C/wp-content%5C/uploads%5C/2023%5C/07%5C/pfbid02vDg3MA2qTVEtHxjRo95Q2Da6KgRiRfEKaX8Mas9b6mqGeU6rRpXRikbg6mJDEry2lcomment_id3319394565039580-png__700.jpg%5C%22" alt='\"Man'>\n<figure class='\"wp-block-image\"'><img decoding='\"async\"' title='\"Man' receives shock of a lifetime after finding snake inside bag broccoli demands compensation src="%5C%22https:%5C/%5C/www.boredpanda.com%5C/blog%5C/wp-content%5C/uploads%5C/2023%5C/07%5C/pfbid0runwEHryk9EjTGGTxPfupbfNR1JcaEL8aRi1SWu4TQ9pcf6mubr1pqhH89vhynRblcomment_id821982802750496-png__700.jpg%5C%22" alt='\"Man'>\n<figure class='\"wp-block-image\"'><img decoding='\"async\"' title='\"Man' receives shock of a lifetime after finding snake inside bag broccoli demands compensation src="%5C%22https:%5C/%5C/www.boredpanda.com%5C/blog%5C/wp-content%5C/uploads%5C/2023%5C/07%5C/pfbid0runwEHryk9EjTGGTxPfupbfNR1JcaEL8aRi1SWu4TQ9pcf6mubr1pqhH89vhynRblcomment_id1141196996828273-png__700.jpg%5C%22" alt='\"Man'>\n<figure class='\"wp-block-image\"'><img decoding='\"async\"' title='\"Man' receives shock of a lifetime after finding snake inside bag broccoli demands compensation src="%5C%22https:%5C/%5C/www.boredpanda.com%5C/blog%5C/wp-content%5C/uploads%5C/2023%5C/07%5C/pfbid0runwEHryk9EjTGGTxPfupbfNR1JcaEL8aRi1SWu4TQ9pcf6mubr1pqhH89vhynRblcomment_id781378790145087-png__700.jpg%5C%22" alt='\"Man'>\n<figure class='\"wp-block-image\"'><img decoding='\"async\"' title='\"Man' receives shock of a lifetime after finding snake inside bag broccoli demands compensation src="%5C%22https:%5C/%5C/www.boredpanda.com%5C/blog%5C/wp-content%5C/uploads%5C/2023%5C/07%5C/pfbid0runwEHryk9EjTGGTxPfupbfNR1JcaEL8aRi1SWu4TQ9pcf6mubr1pqhH89vhynRblcomment_id606141791674936-png__700.jpg%5C%22" alt='\"Man'>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A man who went to a supermarket to get some groceries came back with a snake and didn\u2019t realize it until after the animal got familiar with his food. Last month, 63-year-old Neville Linton bought a bag of broccoli from an Aldi branch in Sturbridge, England, and stored it in his fridge before taking it [&hellip;]\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7541,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/momentsunfolded.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/momentsunfolded.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/momentsunfolded.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/momentsunfolded.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/momentsunfolded.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7540"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/momentsunfolded.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7540\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7542,"href":"https:\/\/momentsunfolded.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7540\/revisions\/7542"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/momentsunfolded.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/momentsunfolded.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/momentsunfolded.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/momentsunfolded.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}</p></figure></figure></figure></figure></figure></figure></figure></figure></h3></figure></h3></figure></p></figure></p></strong></p></figure></h3></figure></h3></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></figure></h3></figure></h3></div></div></div></div></em></p></div></div></div></div></div></figure></div></div></header>