A BASINGSTOKE pensioner was shocked when she found a can of stew she had bought from ASDA was laced with foul smelling mould.

Sheila Turvey, 74, from Oakridge, was preparing dinner for her lorry driver husband and planned to use a tin of Kate’s Kitchen stewed steak in gravy, which she had bought two days before from the Brighton Hill supermarket.

But when she opened the £1.40 tin, she was horrified to discover a one-inch thick layer of green and white mould on the top.

It was so bad she and her 63-year-old husband Michael decided to go hungry that night because it put them off their food.

The tin, bought from the Brighton Way store on September 5, was due to expire in June 2016 and Mrs Turvey said it was not damaged when she bought it.

“It was absolutely disgusting,” said the grandmother-of-12.

“I could not believe it when I saw it. It turned me off any food completely. It was so bad I wouldn’t even give it to the dogs.”

The Kate’s Kitchen tin is manufactured by Reading-based firm Argon C&M.

The company’s technical manager, Hugh Stewart, told The Gazette that the mould was the result of the tin’s ring pull seal breaking because of a knock “anywhere in the supply chain”.

He apologised for the mould but stressed that it was an isolated incident, adding: “There is nothing to suggest that there is a batch of bad products.

“I am unaware of any similar complaints. It is an isolated and unfortunate incident and we are sorry.

“It is not the product we want to be selling to our customers.”

He added: “I am confident in the safety of our products and it is very rare that this does happen.”