It's probably not the "machine's" fault, but rather improper storage. At some point, the pizza thawed and was stored or displayed standing up. The dough melted and the toppings followed. This isn't necessarily due to it being a Red Baron brand pizza. But from my time eating those frozen pizzas, Red Barons always tasted awful.

Yummy!

This indicates they were unfrozen for God-knows-how-long. And it was obviously during transport, since the box was obviously on its end to get the unfrozen dough to bunch up like that. Then it was re-frozen into the mess you saw when you opened the package. If you get a pizza like that, do NOT eat it. There is no way to know for how long it was unfrozen, nor at what temperature. It could have sat at 80 degrees for 6 hours. UNSAFE.

There's nothing wrong with those pizzas. It's called the future. Remember Back to the Future when they put what I think was a Pizza Hut personal pan sized pizza in their microwave and it came out as a large pizza? Anyways, it appears Red Baron has perfected the recipe.

It had to be hours they were sitting at room temp to deform like that. I can set a pizza out and leave it there for an hour or so before I put it in the oven, and it wont even come close to being able to deform like that.

Do not eat, and inform the supermarket.

If that was done in transit (very likely) then imagine the scores of other products that went unrefrigerated for hours on end. Particularly the ones that don't have quite the obvious 'tell.'

There'll likely be some sick sick people in the Sunnyvale area soon.

I've had the red barron's go like that during the hour or two that they were in my shopping cart and travel on the way home.

Why is this even a story? Sure, there were three pizzas - so the statistical likelihood of this multiple bad pizzas was lower. But honestly, what's the bar for a post on Consumerist?

This guy found a problem, mentioned it to Safeway, they solved it. No big deal.

I can't list the number of missing parts, malformed food, and shoddy workmanship I've come across. Very few of them are post-worthy. Only the truly inane, noteworthy or especially egregious customer service disasters are ones I'll ever send your way. Here's to hoping others hold the bar as high.

I'd just hate to see this great web site lose its panache and become a forum of whiners for anyone who got .1 oz less macaroni & cheese than the label said.

@dugn: Yeahm 'cuz making it a forum for complaints about the posts is WAY more suitable.

@homerjay:

And that is exactly why I treat most food, even frozen pizza and the like, as if it were raw meat. Never let it touch other surfaces and wash my hands after handling!

I'm not so convinced this was the result of being thawed during transit. Not sure about safeway, but once upon a time (5 years ago) I used to work at a grocery store in the frozen food section, and red baron's always came on the truck with the rest of the food. We'd actually thrown out the better part of a truckload of food because of a thaw before, and it's pretty easy to tell when it happens because of items like ice cream and frozen bread. Also, pizza is ALWAYS shipped in a way that would make it very unlikely for it to shift like this- the top of the box always goes up. Palettes are packed in a specific pattern for each item.

Much more likely, this was left out on the floor being stocked and forgotten about, on it's side. Which would indicate someone stocking the frozen food department wasn't doing their job, and there's a good chance that this has happened before and will happen again, unfortunately NOT necessarily in a way that is visibly noticeable.

Gravity and Red Baron had a fight. I guess gravity won.

@dugn: Safeway solved the problem? It checked the other pizzas for sale and checked the other items in that delivery for safety? I don't recall that being addressed.

I think food that has gone bad, for what ever reason but in this case due to obvious negligence - something that is going into our bodies and could possibly make us sick - is very newsworthy.

CALL THE CITY HEALTH DEPARTMENT, not Consumerist... selling thawed pizzas is a food safety violation and I doubt the store can be trusted to pull the other affected items off the shelf. What you do is good karma and can prevent some innocent toddler or elderly person from coming down with violent food poisoning.

On the other hand, it's Saturday. That sucks.

@timmus: My opinion - call the health department AND consumerist. I appreciate knowing that Safeway's only response to this was to give back the money for the purchase. I am now back to being very wary of them since they did not say something to the effect of, "I'm so sorry about this. We will investigate how this happened and try to make sure it doesn't happene again." Which should have been their response.

Everyone can calm down...these come directly from an outside vendor and not from a Safeway warehouse. Chances are the vendor had a refrigeration problem at some point in their supply chain.

You guys are really stretching for stories on the weekend.

@robertseaton:

s/on the weekend/always
:(

I used to get the red baron mini deep dish pizzas all the time (delicious) and I had never had a problem with any of them, it is sad to see that some of their products are not making it up to par, hopefully it is an isolated incident.

The series of overreactions -- starting with the person who submitted the story and carrying on through many of the comments -- are a nice illustration of how little we think about what happens to heavily processed food before we eat it. Sometimes I think if people were even half-aware of the common problems from supply chain to shelf stocking we'd all be in our backyards eating dirt clods out of anxiety.


Also: @Sherryness: I don't see anything in that story that says those issues were not addressed. I CAN HAS RHETORIC TOO! :)

please take into account the underpaid frozen food dept who forgot to rotate stock...that regularly happens with everyday items.

@Hawk07: That's why the box says self rising! Consumerist, where is your faith in the instructions on boxes!?

lol It looks as unappetizing as normal, except now there's only half of it.

Dark matter on a pizza - flippin' sweet! "Dark matter - In astrophysics and cosmology, dark matter refers to hypothetical matter of unknown composition that does not emit or reflect enough electromagnetic radiation to be observed directly, but whose presence can be inferred from gravitational effects on visible matter. "

@ceejceej: I'm pretty sure that's an acceptable use of the "comment" section. You know, for commenting.

@faust1200:
Nerdy, but I still laughed....wait, that makes me a nerd, doesn't it?

This story is slanted a little wrong towards red baron. This is obviously a fault with the store and a box being on the side and getting left out of the refrigeration unit. My parents and I have separately bought that brand pizza for years and never once have I had one that was even the slightest bit off.

It's not so bad. Think of it this way: With only half a pizza, there's enough toppings to make it look like the picture without adding your own pepperoni.

I can't believe anyone would stick up for any brand of frozen pizza. Put some sauce and cheese on the box, it probably would taste better (and be better for you). If you prefer not to make your own, you can order on the web from the big chains, or better still support your local pizzeria(s).

You should also notify the company, they need to know that this Safeway is giving thier product a bad name.

@doctor_cos: I think of them as two different things...I enjoy certain brands of frozen pizza, esp the rising crust kind. I don't know about where you live, but here, the local pizza places can't make a pizza. Anyhow, I actually do like certain brands of the frozen ones. I rarely eat pizza anymore, but as a vegetarian, I can get a cheese pizza, throw some veggies on top, good to go.

Looks like the plastic wrapping hasn't even been tampered with. Company defect? I just bought a frozen pizza too. Its not Red Baron but I hope it didn't suffer a similar fate!

I agree with LPRANAL and the others that said this seems more like an issue at the Safeway rather than Red Baron. Frozen pizzas are frozen before they receive their plastic wrapping, and all three of these pizzas seem smooshed to one side - rather than a malformed crust.

@doctor_cos: Not all frozen pizza is bad - I consider Red Baron to be one of the better brands out there. And on the same token not all pizza chains, or local pizzerias even, offer a pizza that is superior to the frozen varieties.

@dugn:

I can't list the number of missing parts, malformed food, and shoddy workmanship I've come across.

I live in Sunnyvale, which Safeway should I be avoiding?

@nearsite: Late reply but, it was the Safeway at El Camino and Bernado. Probably just a storage/distribution problem as everyone mentioned. As mentioned though, makes you wonder a bit what other stuff were left unfrozen by the same supplier/distributor.

12/17/07 Bought Redbaron pizza from Walmart (Red baron Classic 4 meat) product code 317324 2221:02 bar code 72180 63481 in Grapevine Texas 12/6/07. Friday night 1214/07 about 8:30 p.m decided to eat the pizza. cooked it for the recommended time and took it out of the oven and it didn't taste right so cooked it a little longer. took it out and figured it was done. Was putting it in the pizza pan but noticed it wouldn't fit. I was thinking thats the only pizza pan I used and looked for a bigger one. couldn't find one so I knew that was the correct pan and couln't understand why is was so big. Thought maybee it was a mess up at the factory and just was a little bigger. Anyway I was eating the pizza and noticed it tasted a little funny but thought maybe its because its a frozen pizza. Anyway about 3:00 am I got up do to my stomach was hurting real bad and I'm sure I don't need to explain the rest. I was sick for two days and almost went to the hospital. I missed my Mangers company party and plans for Christmas shopping Sunday. Yes I'm back to work Monday (a little late) and alot lighter, but little upset because when I called the walmart to let them know they acted like it was no big deal. it was and I'm contacting the city health department. Just a word to the wise. If you ever buy a frozen pizza and you know the previous pizza's fit in your pan, and this one doesn't, do not eat it, my oppoinion is it thawed out somewhere and the dough got larger and the meat spoiled. I was hurting real bad and if my daughter had ate some(she was at the mall with freinds) she would have had to go to the hospital for sure.