I’m not sure what’s more disgusting, the dead bugs, or paying $4.00 for a paper cup of freeze-dried pea soup. Elaine writes:
I bought a Health Valley split pea soup at Publix Supermarket in Miami, FL on Friday 01/11/08 in the morning before coming in to work. Around 12:30 or so when I finally felt ready to have lunch, I opened the soup only to find it infested with dead bugs.
There was actually one live one still crawling around in there but by the time I found my camera to take a picture it had escaped. All the brown things are actually dead bugs. People should be aware of these types of dry soups. Such a disappointment…not to mention that these soups cost around $4.00.
We asked Elaine if she took it back to Publix and she said, ‘Honestly, I was so disgusted that I couldn’t fathom putting that thing in my car. I threw it away.” Ew. Can anyone identify the bugs? How, and when, did they get in there?
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Mmm, extra protein!
This is why I like food with preservatives and extra chemicals.
You should have returned it, or at least copied the information to give the store. When I worked at a supermarket, we had two customers return the same kind of vegetable juice in a very short period. I alerted my manager, and we checked the #’s on them, and they matched. We checked the ones on the shelf, and they matched the numbers, so we removed them all from the shelf, and opened one, and it too was “spoiled”.
Also, was there any marks/holes on the packaging that could have allowed the bugs in? I doubt they survived the freeze drying process, so I’m guessing a pallet got bumped, and an opening allowed entry to the bugs.
Awesome. I had one of these for lunch on Tuesday. I thought it tasted a bit thicker and meatier than usual.
@fitjulie: DAMN SKIPPY!
Those are bonus protein nodules.
Is like one of those 3D pictures? Because those don’t look like dead bugs to me, just little black spheres (seeds?).
Waiter, what’s this fly doing in my soup?
Um, looks to me to be backstroke, sir…
Please tip your servers. Good night!
Hey! I’m trying to eat lunch here!
Made my sammich somewhat less tasty.
I am not so hungry now… gross
So you had the presence of mind to take high-resolution pictures of the problem and whine to Consumerist, but you threw the fucking thing away without notifying the manufacturer or store?
YOU FAIL.
Man, I’ve heard of “blame the victim”, but… wow.
Ew, that’s not vegan!
@GitEmSteveDave:
I had a Campbell’s Chunky soup once that after one bite, I thought it rotten. I emailed Campbell’s with the lot number. They sent me an email back with a coupon for a free can. Didn’t redeem it. The $2 didn’t bother me, but as you said, I just wanted to give them the info in case there was a larger-scale issue.
Hard to tell from the picture but I’d say either a Larder beetle,a Merchant grain beetle or grain weevil. I’ve got a call into Gill Grissom for a definitive answer. What’s most distressing is that they probably died from eating that stuff. You can’t go wrong with a nice greasy burger.
they might be the same bugs that can infest wheat products. Bags of flour can commonly have wheat bugs when you buy them… just sayin.
WTF, $4.00 for a freeze dried paper container of soup?
Once, when eating a fresh fruit salad from the produce section of Whole Foods (watermelon, melon, kiwis, and strawberries), I stabbed a half-slice of kiwi with my fork and held it there while talking to someone.
And then while chatting, I looked at the fork and my vision did this weird flashing in and out optical illusion thing, and I realized what was on my fork was not half a kiwi slice, but a curled up GRASSHOPPER, with black eyes and black markings on it.
Fresh!!!!!
lol @ buying raman for $4.00
Grain weevils can get into anything. Actually, their eggs are in most of what you eat. I’ve had them turn up in Bisquick before. Usually, the food needs to be stored in heat for an extended period of time for them to hatch though.
My grandmother owns a feed store, and every few years, some of the bags will get a weevil outbreak. The weevils come from the INSIDE of the bags though (and certain feeds seemed to have been more susceptible to it than others)
@randotheking: You’re paying extra for the “organic contents.”
@ChrisC1234: I had a couple of boxes of Jiffy cornbread mix do that to me once. Opening those boxes and seeing the contents moving around nearly made me jump out of my skin. I know the eggs are in there, and I mostly don’t care. Grubs, however….fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck no. *shudder*
I make all my cornbread from scratch now. Jiffy is kinda gross, “animated” or not.
I used to shop at Publix all the time when I lived in Florida. They gladly return absolutely anything you bring them, even if your excuse was buying the wrong kind of orange juice. They have always been a friendly,helpful grocery store. I would have returned this right away.
Did you check the ingredient label?
This would have been better if she’d spilled the contents across her counter or a piece of cardboard and taken the picture. Composition is so important in photography.
I lived in Florida for 3-1/2 years and could never get anyone to speak to me in English, especially at Publix. It was impossible to ask an employee where a certain item was located and get any other answer than “que?” Therefore I certainly never bothered to try to return anything to the store. It was a complete nightmare. This was in Miami/Metro Dade.
Oh, that makes me shudder.
Once I was at a friend’s house and something dropped from their ceiling onto their table. We looked up to see maggot-like bugs crawling around on the ceiling. I pretty much flipped out because I have a phobia about things getting in my ears. They cleaned all the bugs away and later found out they were coming from a canister of flour in their kitchen. At least we were playing a game at the table instead of having dinner.
Finding bugs in/near food = ick!
@FitJulie:
@Dibbler:
Hey! I’m eating! ew.
@VA_White: You people are horrible.
$4!! clearly you must be paying for the rare bugs…. this is like a step above ramen with fancier packaging and no noodles.
Bay Leaves– that deters them, but you still have to throw the afflicted food out.
It’s hard to tell from the picture, but they do look like Pantry Beetle Larvae.
This page might help you – has pics and descriptions of bugs that it might be.
[www.whatsthatbug.com]
This happened to me once, but with Near East couscous and moths (no, really). Even the one-live-bug part. I called the company and they sent me a boatload of coupons for free products. I was placated, considering I was a poor college student and vegan at the time – the couscous mixes were one of few cheap semi-prepared foods I could eat. At least without the moths.
“An Ohio University fact sheet estimates that we eat from one to two pounds of insects each year, and without knowing it.”
Miami huh? Are you sure you bought this at a Publix and not a bodega?
Well where did you think the 7g of protein came from?
I worked at a heath food store in high school. One of the things I had to do was to routinely check those clear bags of grains, trail mixes, and nuts (especially the nuts) – for webbing and insects. Infestations happen quite frequently. I walk the trail mix aisle in Trader Joe’s and I shudder thinking of the stuff that may be in there. Just make sure you check before you buy that bag of raw almonds.
I could tell you a story about finding live bugs in HOT kasha at a University cafeteria in Russia, but that might gross out way too many people.
Dennis Duffy, Beeper King: “You know you eat a pound of rat crap every year without knowing it?
Jack Donaghy: “Ah yes, i think i read about that in the New Yorker.”
Is it still an infestation if the bugs are already dead?
The same folks that are bashing the OP about $4 Ramen have no problem buying $20 hot dogs and beer at sporting events. My last NASCAR race I bought a 24 ounce can of Bud for $8; $4 for noodles could be a bargain depending on the perspective.
Just take the bug out and eat the soup, what’s the big deal?
Imagine this: A dog take a dump, a fly lands on the “leavings” and enjoys the moment. Terd Walking gets old, so said fly heads out for something to eat, he lands on your sandwich, you swoosh him away and eat your sandwich. A dead bug in some dried soup taint too bad depending on the perspective.
Remind me to tell ya’ll about my carrot-cake/ant fiasco some day
@Sherryness: the problem was the Miami/Dade part. in the rest of Florida, you can find at least one guy/gal in any publix that speaks english.
When I was a kid, my mother bought some cookies that came in a plastic-wrapped open-top box. I ate one cookie, looked down for the next one, and saw dozens of small worms crawling around. They were thinner than maggots but about the same length, slightly tan in color. Needless to say, I brushed them off and continued eating. JUST KIDDING! That was they only cookie I ate.
I’m printing this picture out for thinspiration.
You know that near-east stuff is bad bad bad – I had gotten one with ants with wings (at least thats what I want to think they were). Unfortunately, I didn’t see them until after the boiling water was added, and it was partially consumed (i noticed a strange spicy taste, and looked closer…)
Will never buy Near East products again.
so that’s why my microwave was screaming bloody murder… i thought it was air escaping from the cup of noodles i was making!
I always found Publix to be a very responsible store, though obviously there is controversy [www.sptimes.com] .
Considering their good PR programs like free antibiotics [www.sptimes.com] , I would have been surprised if they did not only more than rectify the situation, but also made sure that Health Valley was notified.
I owned a pest control company for 10 years n NYC and can tell you all sorts of stories, but the pertinent information is those insects could have come from something next to it on the shelf at the store, in the retailers warehouse,whatever it traveled next to on the way between warehouses or from the packaging facility. You should not condemn the product itself as the manufacturer may have had nothing at all to do with the insect infestation.
So much for organic products. Bleah.
it’s ‘garden split pea’ flavor. they’re obviously just trying to provide you with a realistic garden fresh experience.
There’s always the option of growing your own food, at least if you’re a vegetarian. If I had a place for a garden (my wife and I are apartment dwellers), I’d do it for a good part of what we eat.