A Brentwood supermarket is demanding an investigation after a horrified shopper cut into his fish lunch to find it alive with worms.

Craig Matthew bought the marked-down mackerel at Somerfields supermarket in Chapel High, Brentwood, last Thursday morning.

When he tore open the packaging at his Western Road home he was confronted by dozens of white, needle-like worms squirming around the 'stinking' polystyrene container.

Mr Matthew recalled: "It was sickening. It was enough to make you never want to eat fish again. You just don't expect to see live worms in something like that.

"Somebody has to do something about it. These things could have been toxic. I have two young kids and it could have made them violently ill or even killed them."

He took the fish back to Somerfields the same afternoon, where he filled in a complaint form and was immediately given double his money back.

The store is now demanding the supplier explains what went wrong.

Store manager Peter Ellis explained: "The product is frozen, and we are waiting for the supplier to contact us with a reason and an explanation for this - for the customer and for the store.''

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