A Lidl shopper was left 'disgusted' after finding 'mould' growing inside a sealed protein snack sold by the budget supermarket.

Faye Allan, 19, from Nottingham, bought the Milbona High Protein Chocolate Flavour Pudding from her local Lidl earlier this month.

'I came back from the gym and wanted to eat something with high protein, and was told it's good for you,' she said. 

It had a best before date of August 20 - two weeks before it was supposedly meant to go off.

She added: 'The thing is, the packaging wasn't even tampered with—it was fully sealed and in date.'

The pudding was a treat the student said she ate 'almost every day' because they're affordable and she 'really likes' them.

But recently, when she went to eat a pot, she found a round circle of white mould with a greenish centre staring back at her after she peeled back the lid. 

'I was disgusted, I never expected that,' she said. 'I haven't bought one since because what if there is mould inside that I can't see and I accidentally eat it.

'It's a health hazard. I'm not risking my health for protein.' 

A spokesman for Lidl said: 'We were very sorry to hear about this matter, as it's never our intention for a customer to be dissatisfied.

'We work closely with our suppliers to ensure the products we sell meet the highest possible standards, and we're disappointed if those standards were not met on this occasion.'

They added: 'We always encourage customers to contact our customer care team directly with any concerns, so that we can investigate properly.'

It comes a month after it came to light that a popular cheese from another major supermarket was found to be crawling with maggots.

Couple Cato and Sean Cooper were left feeling sick to their stomachs after they made the horrifying discovery.

They had paid £3 for a wedge of Président French Brie from a Morrisons Daily garage in Taunton West, Somerset, in May.

But when Mr Cooper, 54, went to prepare their lunch he discovered maggots wriggling and burrowing into the soft cheese.

In a video filmed by the disgusted pair, more than 16 of the parasitic bugs can be seen writhing around in the creamy yellow food.

Maggots are the larvae stage of flies, hatching from eggs laid in their hundreds by the insects in rotting materials.

Mrs Cooper, 54, a recruitment firm consultant, immediately binned the cheese before contacting Morrisons' live chat service to inform them of the 'gross find'. 

After the ordeal the couple vowed to never buy their brie from the supermarket chain again. 

Recalling the disgusting find, Mrs Cooper said: 'I opened the Brie and thought: "What the heck? That is disgusting". I stuck the brie in the bin but kept the wrapping.

'It must've been left out, it can't have been left properly in the fridge. Someone must've left it on the shelf.

'It's gross. I thought we should really let them know that that's not on. We could've easily eaten it.'

She was left 'insulted' after they offered her a mere £3 voucher to make up for their shocking ordeal.

A Morrisons spokesman said: 'We have been in regular contact with the customer to apologise for the delay while our franchise partner carried out its investigation.

'We are now confident this was an isolated incident but have been back in touch with the customer this week to offer them a further gesture of goodwill.'