As you get older, the prospect of finding something unexpected inside of food or drink loses its appeal. Maybe that’s because as products get more mature (from Happy Meals to Big Macs), so too do the surprises waiting inside (from plastic rat to actual rat). But consumers often don’t get a choice. If a manufacturer, fry cook or the gods of chance want to leave a foreign object in your soup, a foreign object is what you shall get.
1. Frog-Flavored Soda (that tastes like rodents)
Take, for example, Fred Denegri, a Florida man who thought he’d found a rodent inside his can of Diet Pepsi. It was a normal night at Fred and Amy Denegri’s backyard tiki bar. A self-described Diet Pepsi addict, Fred popped a can and guzzled like he had done so many times before. But the taste running across his tongue was decidedly more rodent than usual. After tipping the can and shaking, a tail sprang forth and the Denegris were officially grossed out.
The FDA investigated the incident and determined the odd taste was not coming from a mouse, but rather a decomposing frog or toad. Pepsi is still pretty confident that it isn’t their fault. “It is virtually impossible for this type of thing to happen in a production environment,” said Pepsi spokesman Jeff Dahncke. Pepsi lovers that they are, Fred and Amy haven’t switched to Coke but they have started buying bottles, and drinking from glasses.
2. Mouse-Flavored Bread
Finding a mouse or frog in your soda is traumatizing, but finding one in your malt loaf? Well, maybe that’s not quite as bad. Just ask the Ballymoney, Ireland, man who purchased a loaf from his local supermarket. He was lucky enough to see the mouse before biting into it. The bakery that produced the loaf called shenanigans, alleging an act of sabotage, but a local magistrate sided with the customer and levied a £1,000 fine on the bakery.
3. Lizard, Snake & Frog Flavored Grub
It’s not surprising that mice make frequent appearances in food, but they’re not the only members of the animal kingdom showing up where they don’t belong. Take the four-inch lizard that was served in a salad at an Applebee’s in Bloomington, IL. The poor little guy, who was completely intact, prompted an investigation by the restaurant and the local health department. The determination? “This was just an extraordinary circumstance,” said Miles McMillin, Applebee’s senior manager of communications.
Other restaurant chains have had their own reptile problems. A T.G.I. Friday’s in upstate New York stands accused of serving Jack Pendelton a snake head in his broccoli. The company claims that analysis shows the snake was never cooked, proof that Pendelton popped the head in there. Neither side has been able to prove its case, but as the Times Union reports, the statute of limitations is five years.
Speaking of cold cases, Chasity Erbaugh found three-quarters of a frog in a bag of Great Value frozen green beans. Erbaugh bought the bag from Wal-Mart, which forced the manufacture to investigate. For her part, Erbaugh maintained a sense of humor. “They didn’t even give me the frog legs with it,” she said.
4. Finger-Flavored Custard
After returning home from a dessert run to Kohl’s Frozen Custard in North Carolina, Clarence Stowers found a piece of human in his frosty treat. Unfortunately, he didn’t realize there was a severed finger in his custard until after biting down on it. But don’t feel sorry for Sowers, who refused to return the finger to doctors, leaving the newly fingerless Brandon Fizer only able to count to nine. Instead, Stowers hung on to the finger and sued Kohl’s for psychological trauma and post-traumatic stress. As of the last published reports, both sides remain in the evidence discovery phase.
Though Stowers’ behavior was pretty horrible, it was nothing compared to Anna Ayala’s, who planted a finger in a her own Wendy’s chili and attempted to sue the restaurant. Her creative scheme landed her and her husband, who obtained the finger chunk from a friend, in jail for nine and 12 years.
5. Latex-Flavored Dinner
When Philip Hodousek began eating the cheese off the top of his French onion soup from Claim Jumper Restaurant in Mission Viejo, California, he thought the cheese was a little rubbery. Turns out it was latex-y; the cheese wasn’t cheese, but a condom. When Hodousek politely pointed this fact out to the restaurant’s manager, he was told it was in fact a rubber glove. Hodousek’s stomach disagreed as he excused himself to vomit. Once composed, he settled on suing the restaurant for “general damages, specific damages for medical services, medication, drugs, psychological treatment, loss of earnings, and the cost of filing the lawsuit.”
Van Miguel Hartless took the same approach after finding a prophylactic atop his Southwestern Whopper. A student at Green Mountain College, Hartless sued, claiming he had suffered from “vomiting, nightmares and emotional distress.” The case remains unresolved.
6. Cell Phone-Flavored Chips
When Emma Schweiger of Janesville, Wisconsin, sat down for a crunchy snack early this year, she encountered perhaps the most bizarre shaped chip imaginable. It had a screen, buttons and looked just like a silver Nokia cell phone. Which is exactly what it was. Schweiger purchased the bag of Clancy’s Ripple Potato Chips from a local Aldi, which offered her a free bag of chips for her trouble. She turned them down. “You kind of don’t want chips for a while” after something like that, she said. But once she does, “they will be dumped in the bowl.”
7. Metal-Flavored Everything
Perhaps Julisa Caba, a 25-year-old mom from Queens, New York, should start cutting up her McDonald’s apple pies before eating them. That would save her the horror of biting into a screw lodged inside of the warm, gooey dessert. “I was like, ‘What the heck is this?’” she said. “I started freaking out.” The McDonald’s where she purchased the pie received a full health inspection. “You never believe something like this when you hear about it,” she said. “But then it happens to you.”
It happened to James Fetters, too. The Florida man bit down on to a two-inch bolt that swam among the bacon and chives in his Outback Steakhouse potato soup and was left with a chipped front tooth. Fetters tracked down the Outback manager, who offered to send him home with his dinner for free. Fetters insisted the restaurant pay to fix his tooth instead, a promise that the company eventually made.
But when it comes to finding metal objects in food, no one can top 17-year-old Ashley Barry, who sat down with a frozen meal that her doting mother purchased for her and discovered a large metal clamp beneath the plastic wrap. The local Aldi that sold the Fit and Active frozen meal pulled the others from its shelves and delivered Barry and her mother two free bags of groceries—no large pieces of metal included. [Image courtesy of WOWT.com.]
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The question of whether it is (relatively speaking) better to find a whole horrid thing or part of said horrid thing in one’s food is such a difficult one. But I think that finding part of something is worse, because there is no sense of closure. That quarter of a frog is out there – somewhere – floating around…
And now I am off to not eat dinner. Mauvais appétite!
posted by Lidian on 9-21-2009 at 4:31 pm
While working at the deli in a local supermarket (Hy-Vee)about 10 years ago, we found a fly embedded in the turkey lunch meat. The turkey came in big 10 pound loaves unsliced and you could see it in there as we sliced up to it. I sliced off the chunk of turkey with the fly in it to make sure and we threw it all away. Half the loaf was already sold before we saw it though.
posted by NotThatGuy on 9-21-2009 at 4:34 pm
I was eating at a KFC several years ago. As I lifted my biscuit to take a bite, I noticed something on the bottom of it. It was a dead fly. I have not eaten at KFC since.
posted by ssbn743vet on 9-21-2009 at 4:39 pm
You missed the original, and most important, gross-thing-in-food case: Donoghue v. Stevenson. Mrs. Donoghue found a snail in her ginger beer and sued; the result at the House of Lords changed tort law and opened the door to at least 90% of all tort cases in the Common-Law courts today.
The link in my name is to the Wikipedia page on the case, which explains it and its importance.
posted by Jon. on 9-21-2009 at 5:23 pm
#3 — That happened at an Applebee’s in Iowa as well a few years ago, only the lizard had gotten chopped up a bit, I believe. As I recall, the people didn’t care that much, so nothing happened.
posted by gibbledygoop on 9-21-2009 at 6:03 pm
My roommate was half way through a wendy’s burger when she realized there were some fatty inchworms in it. Of course that didn’t stop me from going to that wendy’s because it was a block away from my house.
posted by Lilly on 9-21-2009 at 6:30 pm
At a Subway restaurant less than a year ago I ordered a tuna sandwich and bit down on something hard. It was either a piece of glass or plastic, I coudn’t tell.
I threw the rest of the sandwich out, but in typical Canadian fashion I did not sue the restaurant or anything silly like that. I have ordered sandwiches from the same restaurant since, even tuna ones, with no problems.
posted by TheBear on 9-21-2009 at 6:36 pm
I remember in when I was a freshman in collage I used to work at Mc Donald’s in Norfolk, Virginia and I’ve seen some nasty things. There was a time when we were infested with roaches and there were dead roaches down in the ice maker in the back of the store. It was freaking crazy when the guy came to clean it out. I was sickened to see that there were dead roach parts in the ice going out in the drive through.
Another time we received a shipment of hamburger buns infested with tiny bugs. I came into work for the evening shift and worked the grill and noticed the bugs in the sand which rolls and I was like Oh my GOD you guys didn’t notice this… tards.
Fortunately they tore that old store down an built a new store.
posted by Michael B. on 9-21-2009 at 7:34 pm
Great article! Although I have to point out that the Applebees in question was not in Indiana, but rather Bloomington, IL. Holla! Go ISU! Something to be pround of!
posted by kt on 9-21-2009 at 7:46 pm
About 20 years ago, I was eating dinner with my family at home and we found a large dead roach in a can of LaSeur peas. We never bought that brand again.
posted by Coco on 9-21-2009 at 9:20 pm
One time I sliced a hard boiled egg and found some kind of parasitic worm inside it. I did not eat eggs for a long time afterward.
posted by Kelsey on 9-22-2009 at 9:40 am
Ick. Making me sick!
I have found a large box staple in the bottom of a baked potato at a restaurant in London, and also a cardboard punch out in my wrap at Wendy’s. It took me a long time to eat at either place again.
posted by Hyacinth on 9-22-2009 at 10:39 am
not terribly exciting, but i found a twig in my lean cuisine glazed chicken dinner one time. i sent the offending item to the company along with a note and they responded by sending me 50 free lean cuisine dinner coupons. i gave them away…
posted by casual_observer on 9-22-2009 at 11:06 am
My husband, daughter and I went to a local Chinese restaurant. My daughter ordered fried shrimp. When it arrived, one piece had a fly fried into the batter. We never ate there again.
posted by Sarahs mom on 9-22-2009 at 12:15 pm
I was drinking my coke from Sonic and sucked a finger nail up through the straw. Couldn’t even finish eating my burger after that.
posted by Stacy on 9-22-2009 at 3:53 pm
I have had a bandaid in a deli salad. Also, my young son was eating a McDonalds breakfast sandwich and I looked over and noticed that there was something gray in the bread. It turned out to be rubber from the machinery that made it. We took it back to McDonald’s and all they did is offer us free food. I couldn’t eat anything from that McDonald’s after that. But my son took an ice cream.
posted by julie on 9-22-2009 at 5:19 pm
I got a sub at Quiznos once and there was plastic in the pepperoni. I have not eaten there since.
posted by Anne on 9-22-2009 at 11:53 pm
At a Rallys in Fort Wayne I had gravel inside the french fries the check some other bags to find out they were the same now on I only it their sandwitchs.
posted by mickey on 9-27-2009 at 10:31 am
We once purchased a bag of Goldfish cheese crackers, and there was a Bic lighter inside. Also, I purchased some Keri lotion once that had the pump dispenser. Upon pumping the dispenser to get some lotion, a bug came out with the lotion. (Not sure what kind it was) We called both companies and they sent us free coupons for the items.
posted by Ma2one on 11-20-2009 at 7:31 am
I found a staple in my slim fast powder mix. I contacted them they offered me a free can of slimfast mix. NO THANKS
posted by Christine on 11-20-2009 at 7:56 am
Found a cigarette butt in my LEFTOVER take home box of Chinese food. This happened many years ago and
the restaurant was a favorite of mine too.
posted by Elli on 11-20-2009 at 8:39 am
I chewed on an acrylic polished fake fingernail , found inside a sealed chocolate cake purchased at Stop and Shop, whom scapegoated the responsibility to two different Bake Co.
Even thou my tooth chipped , they have
parasites as lawyers. Oh well.
Bake at Home.
posted by Jan Frances on 11-20-2009 at 8:47 am
I purchased a large can of Glory Collard Greens from a Tops Market to find a Snickers Candy wrapper in the Greens.
I contacted Glory Company online and they finally after sending them a picture of the wrapper with the greens sent me several coupons for so much off their Glory products.
Why would I buy any more of their products when I would not trust their products being clean or junk put in them.
posted by Claudette Rogers on 11-20-2009 at 12:51 pm
Ewww. Not a good thing to read when drinking a pepsi…
posted by Zoey on 11-20-2009 at 3:02 pm
twice already, my cheeseburgers from McDonald’s have had small sharp bones in them. if you don’t chew your burger well, you might not notice hidden in your food these tiny pieces of hard, harmful, indigestible bones from cows, mice, lizards or whatever animals the beef grinding machines of restaurants produce
posted by xian on 11-20-2009 at 3:31 pm
After eating a takeout pizza from a local restaurant I saw what looked like small crumbs moving in the box. Turned out they were tiny little cockroaches.
posted by Marlene on 11-20-2009 at 4:41 pm
Was offered coupons for another pizza -
like we would ever eat their food again.
posted by Marlene on 11-20-2009 at 4:44 pm
We had an incident in Australia recently where a rude customer was served human crap in their ice-cream. They discovered it when it tasted like crap smells.
posted by tasmanian devil on 1-28-2010 at 9:09 pm
I feel a bit sorry for the person who lost a finger into the custard – never mind the trauma of finding a finger in your food, what about the trauma of losing a finger and someone refusing to give it back?
posted by Phigment on 2-28-2010 at 12:46 am
In 2004, i was at a Jack in the Box and they sold me a burger with wood splitters in it. I choke for a few minutes and almost died. I was so scared and just praying.I thought it was hard bacon until I spit it out after gagging and choking.
posted by sugarwater on 6-7-2010 at 1:11 am