When Christine Schadler and her family stepped up to the counter at a Starbucks inside a Massachusetts Target store, they were expecting to order coffee.
They didn't expect to see insects all over a sandwich in the display case.
"I asked the employee that was working there if he was aware of the bug situation in the display case and he said, 'Oh, yeah, we've been battling those for weeks,'" said Schadler.
The Starbucks is located inside Target on Fortune Boulevard in Milford. The incident happened Saturday evening.
"If they have that many bugs in the display case, my natural thought progression was how many bugs are behind the scenes," said Schadler. "I thought it was kind of gross."
The Starbucks is managed by Target and run by Target employees.
Target tells NBC10 Boston it takes the incident very seriously, and all of the items in the display were removed and the case was cleaned.
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Food in the case is only for show at this location, and not served to customers.
Target tells us that pest control and a local health inspector have since visited the Starbucks, and the shop passed inspection.
Schadler sent the video to Starbucks on their Facebook page and the company responded that they, too, take this very seriously, saying "this is certainly not up to our standards."
Target says there has never been a similar incident here before. The company believes the insects were fruit flies.
Milford Health Officer Paul Mazzuchelli tells NBC10 Boston an inspector visited Starbucks on Monday. He also believes the insects were fruit flies. His office will be keeping an eye on the situation.
Starbucks has not returned a request for comment.
The display case remains empty as of Tuesday evening.
