A CRISP enthusiast was alarmed when he found duct tape apparently sticking his bag of bacon-flavoured snacks together.

Mena Gad, who lives at the Seven Dials in Brighton, bought a family pack of Snackrite’s crisps from Aldi in London Road, Brighton.

The bag normally includes 18 bags of Bacon Rashers, Cheese Puffs and Monster Claws and costs £1.29.

The 20-year-old, who works at Domino’s pizza delivery, was horrified when he found one pack of Monster Claws wrapped up with what looked like duct tape.

He said: “I don’t know what could have happened to me if I ate those crisps from a packet like that.

“It looks like they were just taped back up after being opened, and who knows for how long. It could have been really bad.

“I like those crisps but I am not touching them.

“It’s so bad that they let this happen and I am pretty shocked.”

Mr Gad emailed the store with details of his crisp crisis and was invited to return to the supermarket to collect a refund.

But he said losing out on the money was not the issue, given the pack cost just over £1.

He was instead concerned about standards at Aldi, where he regularly shops because he feared the packet had been opened and resealed. He said: “I don’t really care about getting my money back. I am more concerned about the hygiene because this is not good.

“It’s pretty shocking they thought they could get away with this, whatever the situation is to sell a packet of crisps like this.

“It’s bound to put people off. Were they trying to be smart to cover something up?

“They haven’t done a very good job of it.”

His second option was to have a replacement packet of crisps, which he again was not bothered about.

He told staff at Aldi his main concern was to make sure they did not allow the same mistake again and hopes they will take more care.

But an Aldi spokesman said: “Our supplier has confirmed the pack was sealed before it was added to the multipack.

“The black tape found on the product is from the end of a packaging roll and should have been removed.

“We have apologised to Mr Gad and offered him a full refund.”

He said the product was not opened and resealed from when it was packed to when it was sold, and normally, if the black tape was seen on a packet, it would have been removed from the production line.