Woolies' surprise ingredient

Woolworths is again facing the wrath of consumers, this time because of a frog that a customer said he found in a packet of "Italian salad" leaves.

Dirk Steenekamp on Saturday posted a picture on Instagram and Twitter of a dead frog that came with his packet of Woolies greens.

He vowed he would “never again” shop at the retail chain.

Woolworths said it was very concerned about the rare incident and had contacted Steenekamp.

“We do use pesticides sparingly, to ensure to that our fresh produce is grown in a healthy environment, that also preserves biodiversity.

It added that: “A healthy farm attracts insects, frogs, birds... and it may well be that the frog slipped through our extensive quality checks undetected”.

The picture made waves on twitter yesterday.

Many sprung to Woolworths’ defence calling the incident sabotage.

Others made fun of the situation, saying the Italian salad should have just been labelled French salad, referring to the French tradition of eating frogs.

@glitterdaiquiri tweeted: “This Woolworths frog thing has a white mom in Saxonworld curled into fetal position, crying because Pick n Pay is an option now”.

Milase Mzambo tweeted support: “Woolworths still leads the market in quality products. Frogs or no frogs, that would be the healthiest frog in a packet”.

One user said on twitter that “the frog in the salad proves it’s fresh and organic”.

The Boycott Divestment Campaign that has called for people to stop shopping at Woolworths because the retailer buys 0.1% of its products from Israel used the opportunity to criticise the retailer.  

The campaign twitter account read: “Are Woolworths hygiene standards slipping as well as their ethics?”  

Last week, Woolworths applied for an interdict to prevent the boycott organisation from protesting in its stores.

It argued that its customers and staff should not be intimidated within  stores and had the right to shop safely.   

Steenekamp did not respond to emailed requests for comment on the frog incident.