A mum has blasted a catering company after it allegedly sent her a school meal box full of mouldy veg.
Kerry Elson, from Yatton, Somerset, said the food she received from Chartwells, which was recently criticised by Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford, was inedible and totally unacceptable.
Speaking about the packages her family had been sent, the 29-year-old said the quality was getting worse and worse.
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"It was really bad, there was some perishable food like a small bag of pasta and that was fine - but the rest was inedible," said Kerry.
"There was potatoes and they were sprouting and squidgy, they were the worst.
"The tomatoes had mould on them and the onions did too.
"The bananas were brown, they were gone - and the pears were so soft I could put my finger through them."
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Disgusted by the way in which she and her kids have been treated, Kerry recently set up a Facebook page allowing other parents to share their stories and experiences.
Discussing the group, the mum-of-four said: "We set this up because we felt so passionately that if we are suffering, other parents are suffering, and is it fair that parents have to choose between feeding their children rotten food or not feeding them at all?
"It's completely unacceptable, I would not feed this to any of my children.
"Chartwells seem to reckon they are improving, but Christ - I dread to think what it was like before."
Responding to the claims made about their packages, a spokesperson for Chartwells did not apologise to Kerry, instead they said it was 'impossible' to know whether the food was from their company.
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A spokesperson for Chartwells said: "Unfortunately, it is impossible to tell whether the pictures provided are from one of our parcels.
"It is important to stress that if a parent is ever unhappy with what they receive they can call our helpline and receive a replacement parcel within 24 hours.
"We have substantially enhanced our lunch parcels in the last three weeks, and are also providing free breakfast too.
"We have supplied over 30,000 parcels in the last two weeks and have been receiving lots of positive feedback from parents."
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Last month, Rashford hit out at the amount of food parents were receiving for their children in the free school meal parcels after photos began to do the rounds on social media.
Sharing one himself, which showed four apples, three cartons of juice, a tin of baked beans, and a couple of cereal bars, he wrote: "Three days of food for 1 family... Just not good enough."
Later adding: "Then imagine we expect the children to engage in learning from home. Not to mention the parents who, at times, have to teach them who probably haven't eaten at all so their children can... "
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