A CHEF made a scary discovery when he picked up a melon at his Lidl store.

Adrian Nowak, who lives in Musselburgh town centre, found a dead scorpion lying underneath the fruit while out for a recent shopping trip at the supermarket on Newhailes Road.

"I went to Lidl to get some essentials and I thought about getting melon and found it under one of the melons I picked up - it had been squashed," said Mr Nowak, a chef at a local care home, who bought the melon.

A spokesperson for Lidl said: "At Lidl, we pride ourselves on having thorough procedures in place to ensure that our fresh fruit and vegetables are of the highest possible quality for our customers. We are, therefore, disappointed that these expected high standards have not been met on this occasion and would like to sincerely apologise to the customer.

"We can confirm that it has also been escalated to our Quality Assurance team to investigate further with the supplier."

Mr Nowak's photos attracted a lot of interest on social media with one post staying: "I bet you social distanced yourself from that as quickly as possible!"

Another read: "When was in Royal Navy we got our stores in foreign ports. Chef checks bananas before go in chilly room, us two stokers there to ensure fridges don’t keep tripping. Opens box and spider size of a hand on top unit was alive but, because of being in cool temperatures, it lay still well three guys trying to get up a vertical ladder wasn’t easy."

One stated: "I was stung by one of them in Guatemala - not pleasant at all."

Another said: "Well this story has a sting in the tail."

"If you import food from foreign countries it's to be expected there are always going to be a few extra guests along for the ride . . . just be alert and be on the lookout, it's part of the deal," joked another.