11 of the Most Disgusting Things Found in Food
If you’re about to enjoy a nice meal as you
read this you may want to bookmark it for later and just get on with
your meal. Admittedly, these kinds of things are rare, but they do
happen. It’s the worst kind of publicity for the companies involved, and
just like gawking at a bad auto accident, human nature renders many of
us unable to turn away from something we may not really want to see.
1. Frozen Custard Gives Man The Finger
In 2005 a North Carolina man enjoying a pint of frozen custard had
his experience ruined when he bit into part of a severed finger.
Authorities reported that it was the result of an accident that occurred
during the preparation of the frozen treat. You would think that
someone who lost at least part of a finger in a food-processing machine
would be anxious to draw attention to his or her condition in order to
take advantage of prompt medical treatment. Whether or not that happened
is not clear, but someone certainly dropped the ball when they failed
to shut the line down immediately and dispose of that particular batch
of product.
2. Extra Creamy Chowder
The finger in the custard was bad enough, but this one may have
topped it. A February day in 2004 was probably fairly uneventful for a a
California woman until she discovered a condom in her clam chowder
while dining at an Irvine, California restaurant. The woman and her
companions had requested that their meals be returned to the kitchen to
be re-heated and reported that they were treated rudely by the waiter.
When her meal was returned she was surprised to find a chewy, rubbery
object in her mouth that turned out to be a condom. She reportedly ran
to the bathroom and vomited. She later filed a lawsuit against the
restaurant claiming that she suffered from anxiety and depression as a
result of the episode, and if the allegations are true, we have no
problem believing her!
3. Taking Crappy Service to A Whole New Level
OK, so perhaps the condom (probably unused) in the chowder was pretty
bad, but this one may have just squeezed into the lead position. In
another example that suggests restaurant patrons may be better off
keeping complaints to themselves, a couple in Australia accused the
staff at a hotel bar of contaminating their chocolate gelato with human
excrement in 2008. A government health official confirmed that fecal
matter was detected in the gelato, while a laboratory hired by the hotel
claimed there was no evidence of contamination. The couple had
complained about the noise level in the bar during a televised football
match and were given the gelato as a gesture of good will. If a
crap-contaminated gelato is a gesture of good will, I’d hate to see what
that bunch would do to someone they really didn’t like!
4. Frozen Frog Fail
A woman in Michigan got quite a shock in 2010 when she opened a bag
of frozen vegetables and found a frost-bitten frog sitting atop some
peas. After her husband responded to her screams, they sealed up the bag
and called the Food and Drug Administration to file a report. After
hearing nothing from the FDA for a few days the man contacted the
supermarket where the vegetables were purchased and discovered that they
did not even know about the incident. Apparently, the FDA didn’t take
the matter very seriously at the time. Although the couple was satisfied
with the response from the supermarket, they say they’ll never look at a
bag of frozen vegetables the same way again.
5. New Definition of “Extra Special”
A woman in the U.K preparing a meal for her boyfriend and herself was
mystified by the lumpy consistency of the curry sauce she had poured
into a pan. Upon closer examination, she discovered that a dead mouse
had apparently lived out the final moments of its life drowning in “Asda
Extra Special” sauce. When she returned to the store where she
purchased the sauce with evidence of the unfortunate rodent, she was
assured that they would conduct a full investigation. Perhaps now
consumers know what it is about Asda’s sauce that’s so extra special.
6. You Want Pus With That?
A family in Canada claims the meal they purchased from a local
McDonald’s during July of 2007 was ruined when the the husband found a
used band-aid in his french fries. The man allegedly felt “queasy, light
headed, nauseous and grew increasingly mortified at the thought of
having consumed the french fries which were tainted by the presence of
the used band aid and any blood or other bodily fluids it contained.”
After approaching an employee about the incident, the man reported that
the employee attempted to take the band-aid from him. Police were
called, although no arrests were made. The family filed a lawsuit
against McDonald’s Canada and the employee that was said to have been
involved in the incident.
7. Bathroom Breaks and Coffee Breaks Don’t Mix
Not in any reasonable person’s mind anyway. In 2005 a deranged Postal
Service employee (why does that sound so familiar?) decided – for
reasons that were not made completely clear – to add something a little
extra to his co-worker’s coffee. His fellow employees suspected
something wasn’t quite right with the taste of the brew from the coffee
maker and set about to find out why. After they put a hidden
surveillance camera in place, they learned that one of the mechanics
working at the facility has been pouring urine into the break room
coffee pot. The pissed-off pervert was charged with with two counts of
adulteration of food or placing harmful objects in food.
8. Supermarket Blunder Down Under
In a disturbingly recent report out of Australia, a man reported
finding live maggots in the pre-cooked chicken he had purchased at a
local supermarket in December. Unfortunately the poor bloke actually
swallowed some of them before he was tipped off by the sensation of
something crawling around on his lip. His outrage led him to visit the
company’s Facebook page to lodge the following complaint: “I had maggots
in my mouth and then I swallowed them which is how I realised what had
happened, because one was crawling around my lip!” At last report, the
man was still waiting on a response from the company.
9. Roach Coach Chinese?
Another case involving insect larvae surfaced in Denver, Colorado
just six days before Christmas. A man dining in a Denver Chinese
restaurant found something that didn’t look quite right in his sweet and
sour chicken. The man decided to snap a photo of the suspicious-looking
tidbits which county health inspectors later identified as roach
larvae. The establishment was also found to be in violation of numerous
other health-related regulations including a lack of soap and paper
towels in the employee bathrooms and raw chicken stored at a temperature
of 67 degrees, well above the required temperature of 41 degrees. The
restaurant’s owners have since claimed that they have addressed all of
the violations, but it’s a good bet that at least one customer won’t be
returning to verify that claim.
10. The Foxy Donkey
Speaking of Chinese food, who knew that Wal-Mart’s ever-expanding
tentacles reached all the way to China? Shopping in a stateside Wal-Mart
is a very different experience when compared to shopping at one of the
retail giant’s China locations, where live animals are on display for
hungry shoppers to choose from. Apparently, there was quite a to-do over
the fact that some stores were selling donkey meat that also included
some unadvertised fox meat. The product in question is called “Five
Spice Donkey Meat,”which makes us wonder if the producer figured they
could cover up the foxy flavor with all those spices. China is
well-known for the “diverse” diet that some Chinese people enjoy, one
that sometimes includes even dogs and cats. That makes us wonder why a
little fox meat mixed in with donkey meat caused such a kerfuffle. If
someone is willing to dine on donkey, what’s the harm in feeding on a
little fox while you’re at it?
11. The Camouflaged Frog
One New York restaurant picked the wrong day to let quality control
slip up a bit. While dining there just a couple of weeks ago, a Wall
Street Journal editor snapped a photo of a dead frog that was discovered
in a colleague’s albacore tuna nicoise salad. Sporting natural brown
and green colors, the amphibian blended in extraordinarily well with its
surroundings, making detection somewhat difficult. When the problem was
brought to the attention of the establishment’s management, the unlucky
diner was offered a refund and a voucher for a free lunch. Now there’s
somebody who really understands what their customers want!
