A healthy snack turned into a nightmare when Craig O'Halloran found a maggot in a packet of pistachio nuts.

The father-of-two bought the bag from the Asda store in Hollingbury, Brighton, and settled down to enjoy them over the weekend.

He said: "They were fine at first but when I worked my way through the bag I noticed they started to taste a bit funny and were becoming mouldy looking.

"Then when I looked closer I saw they had gone really crumbly and inside one of them was a maggot.

"I immediately rushed off and was sick. It was absolutely disgusting and has put me off pistachios for good."

The bag's sell-by date said May 2007 and it had seemed to be fine when Mr O'Halloran, 26, returned from the store to his home in Thorndean Road, Brighton.

He now intends to take the bag back to Asda and demand an explanation.

Mr O'Halloran is married to Samantha, 23, and the couple have two children, Tayla (crct), four and Kai (crct), 20 months.

He said: "I was asking Tayla if she wanted to try the nuts but she kept on saying no. I am really relieved she didn't have any now because I would hate the thought of her being ill as well.

"It was just a shock when I realised what was in there. It is not the sort of thing you expect. I have no idea how the bag ended up like that and I really don't want to think about it too much.

"The only thing you can be sure of is I won't be buying them again."

A spokeswoman for Asda said the store took all complaints like Mr O'Halloran's seriously and would investigate once he brought the packet back.

The Argus revealed in December that the Asda store at Hollingbury had sold a takeaway duck and mushroom meal which was out of date and which was marked "stale and out of date".

Selling goods which have passed their use-by date is illegal and retailers and suppliers risk fines of up to £5,000 for each offence.

Duty manager Craig Plant said at the time: "This isn't something we take lightly. I don't know why someone would write on the label."