A grandfather was left in shock after coming across a ladder snake hiding in the piece of broccoli he bought at the local store.

63-year-old Neville Linton from Stourbridge, England, was shopping at his local Aldi supermarket when he bought a bag of broccoli that turned out to contain a young ladder snake.

According to the man, the stored the broccoli head in his fridge for three days before taking it out to prepare a meal out of it.

When he ripped open the plastic bag, however, he came across the reptile that was neatly tucked into the gaps between the stalks.

After the “frightening” find, Neville and his son took the snake to the local zoo where it was identified as a ladder snake. Though the species is not venomous, it may deliver a nasty bite if provoked.

“It was pretty frightening. I’m not good with snakes,” Neville admitted.

“It’s lucky I didn’t just leave the broccoli out in the kitchen, or it would have been loose in the house. That would have been a huge risk for us because we have two vulnerable people living here.”

After the incident, Linton spoke to the Aldi store he got the broccoli from and was offered a refund. The 63-year-old, however, is convinced that the compensation should be bigger given the time and effort he had to put in on his end after his find.

“It’s just not good enough – the implications for us if it had got out in the house are huge. Plus, I’m phobic of snakes so there’s the emotional impact of that too,” he added.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Aldi apologized for the incident while claiming it is an isolated case.

“Our supplier has never had a complaint of this nature and has robust processes in place to prevent such issues occurring,” they said.

“We are investigating this isolated incident and have apologized to Mr Linton that our usual high standards were not met.”

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