Horrified shopper tucks into newly-purchased bag of pork scratchings from Tesco – which were FOUR YEARS out of date

A HORRIFIED shopper said she was "gobsmacked" to discover she had been eating "rancid" newly-purchased pork scratchings from Tesco which were four years out of date.

Dawn Mitchelle, 31, picked up a pack of Mr Porky's pork skins at her local supermarket while stocking up on snacks last Saturday.

As she began to eat the pork snacks later that day she thought the first piece seemed a bit stale, and when she tucked into a second bit an "absolutely rancid" flavour filled her mouth and she realised they were off.

The reason why the snacks were extremely unpleasant soon became clear - she checked on the back of the packet and saw the scratchings were almost four years past their sell by date of August 2012.

Dawn, a graphic designer from London, said: "They seemed normal when I opened them.

"The first one I ate was soft and seemed to be a little stale. The second one had more of a rind to it and tasted horrible, really rancid.

"I spat it out and turned the packet over to check the date. I was gobsmacked to find that I had just eaten pork skin that was four years out of date.

"I have no idea how they were still on the shelf as I picked them up from the very front.

"I really couldn't believe it. I showed my sister the date, as I thought at first I had read it wrong.

"I had a bacon sandwich the following day and didn't finish it as the taste of the rind was reminding me of what I had eaten the day before."

Dawn contacted Tesco but claimed their customer services team had a blasé attitude.

She was offered a £3 gift-card and no explanation as to why the old packet was on sale at their store in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex.

Dawn added: "I don't know what I expected them to do, but I felt that a £3 gesture of good will was insulting considering how far out of date they were.

"To be honest I feel that I was shrugged off. I could perhaps understand if it was a sandwich a couple of days out of date or similar."

Tesco said: "We have strict guidelines in place to ensure the best before dates of products are checked regularly.

"We've apologised and offered a refund and have checked that all remaining products are within date."

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