AN animal lover spoke of the stomach-churning moment he opened a tin of cat food - and found it full of maggots.

Colin Ellison, 19, of Clayton-le-Moors, had taken his ex-partner Julia Lord shopping on Saturday to Accrington Asda.

And there, as usual, they bought a pack of 12 tins of Asda's brand Tiger cat food.

But when they got it back to Julia's home in Queen Street, Clayton-le-Moors, and opened the plastic packaging to feed the cat, Colin noticed something was wrong.

Today, Asda have apologised and said it had given Mr Ellison replacement cat food and store vouchers.

Mr Ellison explained: "When I ripped open the plastic, the bottom of the pack had turned black and there was a disgusting smell. There were maggots all over the bottom of the tins and when I opened one of the turkey and duck flavours, it was just full of maggots.

"It was horrible. I'm just glad I opened it and not Julia. But I'm not happy about this because it is not the first time it has happened.

"It happened to us about a month ago when we bought a 24-pack of the same cat food and found maggots on the outside of the tins. They fobbed us off with a £10 voucher as an apology. This time they have brought us a new pack of cat food and a £5 voucher.

"I was expecting more of an apology after having to put up with this twice."

He added: "Whether it's their fault or the place where it is packaged, surely Asda should still check products before they go on sale. It's really unhygienic.

"I am thinking of getting a solicitor involved because it's just not on."

Sian Horner, a spokeswoman for Asda, said: "We will investigate what has happened but at this stage we cannot comment on how it has happened until the tins are sent away for tests.

"We do like to work with the customer until they are happy about the situation.

"There may be an issue with the product or the packaging, which we would find out once the tests were done."