Jenny writes:
I was just drinking a bottle of Vitamin Water and there was a really gross thing in it. Industrial byproduct? Paper? Human skin? (See attached photos) Any ideas as to how I can figure out what the thing is and if its contact with my tongue is going to kill me? I have emailed the company.
What the heck is that thing?! Another picture, held aloft to the light, inside…
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I seriously doubt it’s human flesh. Skin (of the sparsely-pigmented variety) gets that crayola-typical pink/peach flesh color from capillaries carrying oxygenated blood through it. If you’ve ever had skin come off (say, after a sunburn), you know that the surface layers of skin really aren’t pink at all — especially not the color shown in the photographs here. This is true for skin immediately removed from the body — imagine also flesh that’s been removed long enough to have gone through packaging and sat sealed in a bottle for many weeks, where it would have rapidly lost any life-like color shown here.
I have two hypotheses as to what it might be:
1) Some unmixed portion of the ingredients (e.g. cornsyrup and flavoring powder, as SOhp101 mentioned) — although I was unable to find the ingredients online to make a more specific guess, or
2) A by-product of the bottling / manufacturing process: e.g. glue, lubricant, or insulation of some sort.
hey isnt that the flying egg thingys that was in that episode of Star Trek? You know the one where they blinded Spock.
@Falconfire: See ObtuseGoose‘s comment. But yeah, I’m very relieved I’m not the only trekkie who thought of that. [And neither of you get to deny being a trekkie, your comments in this thread prove otherwise.]
Eh, just some cartilage from David Ortiz’s knee. The promotion was part of his contract with Vitamin Water, don’t'cha know.
As previous commenters have suggested, this is almost certainly a bacterial slime – very similar to a mother of vinegar. As the bacteria feed on the nutrients in the vitamin water, they produce a carbohydrate support system, which forms the odd looking membrane. Although the bacteria that make old wine into vinegar are mostly harmless, there can be no guarantee that this particular slime contains only harmless bacteria, or indeed only bacteria – as a previous poster noted, it could well also support fungi.
Listen to the scientists, people. Please.
Oh, There it is. I’ve been looking for that piece. It fell off my face during the packaging process. I’m also missing a piece of my toe nail. That’s what happen when you get old.
Taze it. See if it reacts.
OMG! I just opened a bottle before reading this… Nothing on my cap thank god, but still. Ughhhh
So, Ben, now that you’ve grossed us all out, is Consumerist going to help Jenny get that thing to a lab somewhere for testing? Because otherwise it’s sort of like that woman with her acidic flip-flops. Wild speculation (and victim bashing) are not as helpful to other consumers as discovering the actual issue at hand and encouraging the company to address it is.
>>>TZEPISH
That is the coolest metaphor ever! I want a meat tree… and a pony.
I’ve found that stuff in a bottle of cran-apple juice that sat in the fridge too long. It’s just bacteria or fungus. Either way it points to poor quality control and a refund is in order.
@goodkitty: It’s clearly Vitamin Water Purple, not Soyle- I mean, Vitamin Water Green, which is people.
Pure water = low growth medium, not much can live on water alone in an airless environment.
Vitamin water = petri dish in fluid form, add bacteria and watch things grow.
You’ve got a good growth medium there, plenty of water and vitamins and minerals. It’s not surprising in millions of bottles of this that one shows up that a bacteria snuck into and grew.
I don’t know what it is but I tend to buy the out-of-control growth of bacterial slime theory.
That being said, this post is seriously challenging my gag reflex. Gah!
eww!
i would really have that analyzed, perhaps there’s a chemical lab that would be willing to help?
Grossest thing I’ve ever seen online. I’m glad I only drink beverages that could act as solvents.
Good luck. They’re owned by Coca-Cola now, one of the largest corporations in the world. And they don’t have a department suited for this type of situation.
That looks like sushi ginger. Still doesn’t belong in a drink, but not as gross as “human skin”.
Foreskin?
The bacteria theory is probably correct. I feel nauseous just looking at that thing.
Which is why I drink Propel instead of Vitamin Water.
@Galls:
Someone who is really hung over, that’s who.
-Jenny from the Post
@brainologist:
I tend to think it was option A, some kind of congealed ingredients that happened to look like a chunk of corpse.
For those who think it is a slime mold, it wasn’t floating on top of the beverage or stuck to the cap like that. I drank about the half the bottle and was chugging away, when all of a sudden that thing was stuck to my tongue. I stuck it on the lid because it was the closest surface. Does that change your analysis?
The only other possibility I see is that it might have been a cardboard-ish seal that was under the lid. It could have fallen out, into the drink, and marinated there for quite some time. I think the folks who say it’s a bacterial film are probably right, though.
@cloudedice:
That’s exactly what they asked me to do! When I told them “Hell no!” they sent me two coupons for free bottles of Vitamin Water. (Which I will NOT use. Ew.)
I decided not to pursue it further because I wasn’t injured by the Gross Thing other than the loss of a bottle of Vitamin Water, so a lawsuit would probably be pretty fruitless.
Take tap water, add a massive heap of cheap sweetener, food coloring, fake chemical flavors, and minimum amount of unneeded vitamins. Advertise to the gullible masses. Charge a staggering amount per bottle.
Roll in giant money pile.
The position of the slime within the liquid isn’t particularly relevant to the identification of the object as a slime or pellicle. While a pellicle, almost by definition, forms as a surface layer, slimes can form as sheets or streamers within the liquid, float to the top, sink to the bottom, or retain approximately neutral buoyancy.
Additionally, the location of the object upon purchase/consumption has little relationship to the position of formation – it is highly possible that the object formed as a surface layer, and was subsequently subsumed into the liquid by agitation upon handling and shipping.
There’s an easy way to test and see if it’s alive — remove a part of it, put it in a nutrient-rich environment, and see if you get more of it. If it grows, then it’s probably bacteria. If it stays the same (and doesn’t die!) then it’s probably not alive.
One word: Flukeman. [en.wikipedia.org]
Bah, its just the material they use for the gasket on the underside of the lid.
Normally it’s so thin that it appears translucent. But if its thick enough you get a color.
Soaking in sugary liquid for months and held in just the right light for a photo doesn’t help its appearance.
Dammit, I was going to say Flukeman…argh…I would like to point out that Vitamin Water is not loaded with artificial sweeteners or corn syrup, still, it is a great medium for growing bacteria.
I think if you put a call into your local college someone in the science department can at least point you in the right direction for a testing lab. That being said, if you plan to sue, it might be test to talk to a lawyer first. Taking it yourself to a lab might damage your case.
ugggh that’s just disgusting…any appetite that I have for the next 6 hours is gone. Ugh.
You should contact the FDA about it, hopefully they will check it out. [www.fda.gov]
I was drinking a bottle of Coke’s alternative to Gatorade (can’t remember the name), got about half way through chugging it and noticed some cloudy, transparent masses hovering at the bottom. I immediately stopped drinking. Called Coke and they asked me to send it to them for testing. I got a report back that it was some sort of anaerobic mold. I considered some sort of legal action because whether by psychosomatic or real effect, my throat burned the rest of the day and I felt sick, but no lasting damage that I’m aware of. One co-worker with a degree in biology said it’s probably no worse than any of the other mold we ingest without knowing it.
paper towel?
and i don’t drink vitamin water for the vitamins. i drink it when i want a sweet beverage and there’s no real juice around. unlike, say, gatorade, vitamin water isn’t sweetened with high fructose corn syrup. it’s also not as sweet as a lot of sweet beverages, and i like that.
not as good as water. better than soda.
@Shred: What do you think crystalline fructose is?
Didn’t that crawl in the Chekov’s ear in Wrath of Khan?
Kirk shouts, “Vitamin Waterrrrrrrrr!!!!!”
Wow, if the empty calories and sugars didn’t already turn you off from vitamin water this should definitely do the trick. That’s quite disgusting! I stay away from it all together – when you read the label you realize that it’s not the “healthy” beverage that it claims to be.
it looks like, once upon a time it was a paper seal on the inside of the lid, but I don’t think that vitamin Water uses those kinds of things…
The sludge that builds in the top of the orange ones is almost as disturbing though…
Jenny- have you heard back from them? I have a similar situation- just curious what they’ve said to you if they’ve contacted you.
Is completely right. I was having a hard time staying awake in some of my finals last spring so I got to try a vitamin water as I don’t like to drink caffine too much… total life saver.
Vitamin water good and healthy!!!
I definitly choose VITAMIN WATER, is really delicios i always trying in the morning to start my day feeling good!
so what!!! no one cares…thats one bottle out of millions i have drank 100s of vitamin waters and nothing has EVER been in one of mine
I googled “slime swallowed in vitamin water” and found this post. I bought a bottle and while driving in the dark,. I took two big swigs and on the second swallow, blahhhh. Something was in my mouth, adhering to my mouth. I couldn’t spit it out and had to take my fingers and scoop around and swat it out, half gaging… still driving. Ewww, totally gross. When I got to my destination, it was finally light and I examined the bottle. It held a ball of slime that didn’t disapate when shaken. Parts were cloudy and some sections were more clear. It is the size of about a golf ball that is almost suspended (doesn’t quickly fall to the bottom when you flip the bottle over) Again, ew! Makes you wonder what we put in our bodies without knowing. Anyone else find slime?