A horrified Sussex mum found insect grubs crawling inside a packet of suet - the day AFTER she made dumplings.

Maxine Lee had used some of the suet only the previous day. But when she opened the packet, she found wriggling larvae and dozens of insect eggs.

Mrs Lee, 44, of Hamilton Close, Mile Oak, Hove, said: "I felt really bad because I had made dumplings on the Tuesday after I bought it to go with a stew.

"The following night I decided to do a pudding for dinner and as I was weighing the suet I could see black things. Then I saw they were moving.

"It made me so ill that I couldn't even eat my dinner. It was turning my stomach over.

"I was worried because my son has a liver disease and has very little immune system. But I contacted my GP who said he should be OK.

Mrs Lee said she returned to the store where she bought the packet, Safegate Newsagent in Hangleton Way, and purchased another. She said the second packet was also contaminated with eggs.

She continued: "I contacted Atora and they said if I sent back the packet they would refund the postage.

"But I thought they were not going to get away with that."

Mrs Lee said she contacted Brighton and Hove Council's environmental health department. Officers were studying one of her packets of suet while she kept the other sealed.

A council spokesman said: "Environmental health officers visited the shop and came away with examples, which they think could be moth larvae. We are sending them off for analysis.

"We are in discussion with the retailer and the wholesaler."

The spokesman said it was too early to say what sort of action might be taken.

Em Patel, who runs the Safegate Newsagent, said environmental health officers had checked his store was clean and the packet was still within its sell-by date.

A spokesman for McDougalls Foods, which makes Atora beef suet, confirmed a complaint had been received.

He said: "Our production records show that all procedures were working normally on the day of production, which was more than a year ago, so we believe the infestation is most likely to have occurred after the product left the company's distribution chain."

The spokesman said the firm was awaiting a response from the environmental health officers but, meanwhile, the cost of the product would be refunded to Mrs Lee.