Zach’s wife found a bird feather in a bag of 365 Chopped Spinach. When she called Whole Foods to complain, a bird-brained employee quipped “You’d be surprised at how much stuff people find in their food!”
Zach writes:
My wife just opened a bag of spinach she bought at Whole Foods. As she was draining it, she found a bird feather (she’s a biologist, so we’re confident in her finding).We’ve got stock in Whole Foods too, so we have no axe to grind, but were a little upset at how the customer service rep handled it (no concern about feathers being in other bags, saying “you’d be surprised at how much stuff people find in their food”).
What happened when she returned the plumery greens to the store?
To complete the story, the next day my wife returned the feathered spinach to Whole Foods. The manager said that they’d pulled the spinach from the shelf and notified other area stores about the problem. My wife confirmed that there was no frozen chopped spinach available in the store. When she asked a person stocking shelves where she could find it, he said it’d been pulled. So the problem had been communicated to the staff too.The manager offered to reimburse my wife for the purchase, but quickly realized that it cost all of $1.50, so he gave her a $25 gift certificate.
Good save by the manager, but still, how did a bird feather land in a bag of chopped spinach?
More From Consumerist
-
Kroger Recalls Spinach In 15 States Because No One Wants A Listeria Salad
-
Two London Residents Find Dead Frogs In Their Tesco Spinach
-
How A Homeowners Association Went Bankrupt Because Of One Obama Yard Sign
-
Would You Shop In A Store Hot Enough To Turn A Snickers Bar Into A Beverage?
-
Stressed-Out Gate Agent Will Not Tolerate Tiny Purses On United Airlines Flights
I once got two bird feathers in a box of chopped spinach– not the organic kind either. I wrote to the company and was reimbursed. They claimed it could have happened in the harvesting process. Ugh.
@AnnieGetYourFun: I saw pigeons do it once in a park in downtown PDX. It was fluttery and awkward for all three of us.
@floydianslip6: Crows are quite common.
Putting aside the organic debate we’ve got goin’ on here, its just a freakin’ “feather” (if it was that). Take it out, examine it, throw it away, eat the spinach, simple. Why customer service was called & products taken off the shelves, who knows. Seems a bit much for one measly “feather”.
href=”#c3467830″>AnnieGetYourFun: Oh and also: pray that you never stumble upon mating slugs.
@cryrevolution: Now what I want to know is if it was a whole bird and if so where did the head end up?
yea. Feathers fall in fields. But you know, it’s supposed to be sorted and cleaned.
@foonie: Thanks for pointing out that my spinach wasn’t organic. The Mrs. and I never buy organic–you never know what will be in it.
@IrisMR: Bingo. Where there’s a feather, there might be a claw. We didn’t feel like sorting through the whole bag looking for talons and beaks.
man this whining is pathetic.. its a feather!! think about the things your ancestors ate from the fields? find a feather? then they would just throw it aside and continue eating.
get a grip. just rinse your veggies and get on with life.
@AnnieGetYourFun: I’m glad I was able to bring a smile to your face with the thought of bird coitus, although I actually was referring to insects doing the nasty more so than vertebrates.
But I agree the idea of some birds having at it on my spinach is kinda funny.
All Hail Humanure!
When I worked in their produce department, it was amazing what we found in the bunches of fresh spinach (both organic and conventional), including one very live, angry frog. Sure, insects were along for the ride quite often, but how about a frog….. never once saw a feather though…
I found two different black widows in the organic grapes, though, the framer out there love the black widows because it keeps the insects under control. (I took them to my biology professor for a verification, but it was hard to not see the perfect bright red hour glass shape on it’s belly.)
@Rukasu: That made me giggle.
Go organic and you’ll be surprised at what you find in your food. No pesticides, but lots of bugs and other stuff.
Thank you to those who noted that this is not an organic food. There is a “365″ line and a “365 Organic” line (both Whole Foods private label brands).
I bet the bird flew into the factory and right into the machine as it was bagging it!