IKEA apologises after customer reports caterpillar in his food

(Reuters) - IKEA has issued an apology to a customer in Hyderabad after he reported finding a caterpillar in his food at the store and posted a photograph of it on Twitter.

The Swedish furniture retailer opened its first store in India less than a month ago.

Abeed Mohammad posted the picture on Twitter on Friday and Indian media reported that the city's food safety officials conducted a raid at the company's store.

Officials from Hyderabad's civic body inspected the premises of IKEA and confiscated food samples, the Hindu newspaper reported over the weekend http://bit.ly/2LSI2LD.

During the inspection, it was determined that the store was not complying with waste segregation norms and a fine of 15,000 rupees ($211.18) was issued, the report said.

IKEA said it had apologised to the customer.

"We are currently investigating the matter to understand what happened and take immediate action," an IKEA spokeswoman said.

($1 = 71.0300 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; editing by Jason Neely)