I wouldn't be so quick to point the finger at Trader Joe's. Mangos float and glass sinks which is the reason that during the processing of the mangos they are floated to allow rocks, dirt, and other foreign particles to fall free. The yogurt is strained before packaging so it's highly unlikely the glass made it through that process. The least controlled environment is the home. Open top on the glass container of the blender used to mix the ingredients for the sorbet. An eager household sous chef knocking that big metal spoon on the rim of said glass container to dislodge the remnant yogurt. Voila!

The moral of the story - CHIP HAPPENS!

Check your blender for damage.

Well, glass is 100% natural. No carbon, though, so it's definately not organic.

@B: Also, there's no yogurt in Sorbet. Maybe they were making Frozen Yogurt?

How do they even know the glass came from the mango and not from their blender? It just looks like a small chip - it could have come from anywhere. Don't be hating on Trader Joes! I would sell my firstborn to get a fully-stocked one somewhere near me.

i too think that the glass likely came from the blender jar or the drinking glass. that is not to say, however, that it couldn't have come with the product. but the simplest explanation is usually correct.

I'm sure many of us had the first thought, "Did the glass come from the glass blender?"

So sure that I'd think the customer here thought that too, and checked that.

Labeling something as organic is just a marketing scheme. Just like the fat-free crazy before it.

The chipped blender jar was my first thought, too. The more a product has been handled in the home, the less likely it is that the "value-added" goodies came from the factory.

When I lived near a Trader Joe's (*sigh!*) I only had one problem with one of their products. It was some kind of bread that was moldy the day after I bought it. I brought it back and the manager apologized, saying they'd gotten a bad batch and had yanked everything from that manufacturer until they were sure the problem had been resolved.

I don't know if they're still as fanatical, but my experience makes me a little less likely to point a finger at Trader Joe's.

@B: most glass does have carbon from the sodium carbonate.

@HIV 2 Elway Resurrected: Yes, just like labelling something with its country of origin or "ingredients" is a marketing scheme.

It sounds like the OP hasn't contacted TJ's himself? Isn't that the first step?

The OP seems to be contacting The Consumerist instead of Trader Joe's. I don't understand that decision. Tell whoever you want in addition, sure, but contact the actual theorized source if you want any action taken.

Why on EARTH would someone first make a posting to a (n admittedly popular) blog, rather than contacting the store, if they were genuinely concerned about other people? If they just wanted to stir up trouble, then post away! But if they wanted to solve the issue (or at least see what the store has to say), then call the damn store!

I'm sorry, but this is really irritating. I think it's appropriate to post here AFTER contacting the store / company, regardless of their response (good, bad, indifferent), but irresponsible and unhelpful to do so beforehand.

I don't blame the OP for finding the glass (per se), but I _do_ blame them for not taking the proper first step: call the company.

I too think it may be a chip from the blender. I've shopped at Trader Joe's for almost the past 4 years and never had an issue. I know for a fact that if this person goes to Trader Joe's and explains the situation, the store will gladly issue a refund without any hassles. I agree that this person could have just contacted the Trader Joe's that they shopped at and everything would have been resolved.

@HenrySteinbeck: I agree. Please have proof before publicly accusing corporations. This is, frankly and plainly, slander.

@larrymac808: Hey! There's a thought!

And here's Trader Joe's "Contact Us" page for the OP! [www.traderjoes.com]

So did you contact TJ's? This story should actually be about nothing other than TJ's excellent and trouble-free return policy.

@Elcheecho: There you go, 100% organic. Shows what I know about science.

I used to like Trader Joe's a lot more until I found out about this:

http://www.ufwaction.org/campaign/traderjoes?qp_source=web

And yeah, why didn't this guy contact the store himself?

@ionerox: Here, here!

TJ's is really on the ball about contacting customers and taking care of issues. They will respond quickly online and take back any item in the store.

OT, but you brought it up first Alex- Two Buck Chuck is swill. It's made out the crap grapes that weren't good enough for even the Franzia boxes, and it's only usefulness is to get you drunk for really cheap. (To this point, Mad Dog 20/20 would be just as useful and cheap.)

Oh, and for the record... TJ's is popular far beyond the "college hipster crowd." Plenty of thirty-something parents like me swear by the place.

I think it is ridiculous that OP went to consumerist before contacting the vendor, notifying them of the problem and seeing what the response was.

I also don't agree with consumerist running the story without the consumer first doing that.

@paco: True! Our local TJ's is impossible to get into because of all the SUVs and baby strollers.

@Sean Tapscott: You mean libel, right?

@nicemarmot617: As the person in charge of selecting new sites for Trader Joes, I am interested in the terms of your offer. Please go on.

@ionerox:

No... not in my case. I submitted a complaint there about some perishable products that were woefully expired and they never responded.

If Gil calls Trader Joe's and tells them, they'll pull all the mango. And probably even pull it from all the stores regionally.

Why his first point of contact had to be Consumerist, I do not know. Like others have said, if Trader Joe's doesn't know about this and you've printed it, you are really making a mockery of the entire mission of your blog...for consumers to advocate for themselves TO companies.

@ionerox: There is a WORLD of difference between Charles Shaw and Mad Dog. Me, I prefer dumping a packet of cherry Kool Aid in a bottle of Thunderbird when I go the cheap "wine" route

@paco: Yeah, this story is full of horrible generalizations about Trader Joe's.

The reporting gets a big PFFFFFFFFFFT from me.

@ionerox: Two Buck Chuck is good. Much better than franzia.

It probably happened at home. This seems a bit dubious. Trader Joe's has great customer service with a policy of if you don't like it bring it back.
My gut says this seems like the prelude to yet another unneeded lawsuit.

I think this guy should have contacted trader joe's. We one time found a piece of metal in a food at a grocery store, and they pulled it all off the shelf, contacted the manufacturer, and the other stores carrying it. Then they gave us a gift certificate, a big gift basket, and paid for a tetanus shot, just in case it broke the skin when bitten on.

I don't get why you wouldn't call the store in this case. If you think there is glass in a product, wouldn't you ask the store to pull it off the shelf?

@Sean Tapscott: My old law prof said "Slander is spoken, libel is literary".

@rworne: Did you resend it? Things DO get lost in transit.

Not to make it seem like the OP is an idiot, but are we sure it's "glass"? Sometimes the polycarbonite plastics in such small size can be confused for glass, and would possibly have passed the "float test" mentioned above.

Also, has anyone considered that the "object" was inside the mango when it was cut? I.E. it fell on the piece somewhere along the line, and became lodged into the flesh. Just saying.

@rworne: Why not just go to the store?

Well, you know that a company has a great track record when, on this blog, the readers are defending the company and not the consumer.

Why did Gil write to you and not Trader Joe's.

If this is a hazard then TJ's should be informed pronto ... yeah, and tell everyone the package details.

I've always been successful at returning things to TJs and they do "take it seriously" when it's something like spoilage (which is my only experience with a public hazard.)

@TonyEuryale: I'm commenting for the first time because I absolutely could not pass up this opportunity to tell someone in your position that we really need a Trader Joe's in Fort Wayne, IN. I can tell you that I (and my mother and several of my friends) would shop there weekly if we had one in town. The closest one to us is in Indianapolis, and we always make sure to visit Trader Joe's when we happen to be there. The only competition is World Market, and their selection isn't as good and is much more expensive in comparison. Please do give us folk here in the Fort some consideration for one of your next new sites!

Food processing plants do not use anything made of glass. I should know, because I work at one.

The dangers of using glass in production is staggering, and there is nothing that comes in glass that cannot be gotten in plastic. We don't even allow ANYTHING glass in our plant. No jars, no bowls, nothing. Even our light-bulbs have a plastic anti-shatter coating on them. (If they brake, they stick together. That's a $7 lightbulb there...)

So, the likelihood that the glass came from either the manufacturer of the mangoes, or the yogurt, is practically nil.

Also, WTF with not going back to the store first? TJ's cares a lot about their image, and will take care of the problem if they are told about it.

@paco: Just take a look at the crowd at the NYC 14th St. location - there are plenty of local neighborhood old ladies.

Oh, and we desperately need one in north Brooklyn (Williamsburg, Bushwick, Greenpoint) ASAP. Thank you.

@HIV 2 Elway Resurrected: Curious. Have you been to a TJs?

@ionerox: Take a deep breath and reconsider the following: you're complaining that a two-dollar bottle of wine doesn't meet your exacting Oenephiliac standards.
Maybe... Spring for a wholloping four dollars next time?!

@Antediluvian: Especially a store with a 100% no questions asked refund policy like TJ's. I can definitely see the reason to post here at the same time though, which is to warn other TJ's customers that there is a potential risk and they might want to leave their mango chunks in the freezer for a couple of days until TJ's makes a decision on any potential recall.

I'm not going to debate whether or not the glass game from the product or from the person's house, but I found a small glass chunk on a bag of trail mix from Trader Joe's in the past for what it's worth. I took the bag back and showed them the glass - They didn't seem very concerned at all.

I checked their trail mix shelf a few days later and the same stuff was still on the shelf being sold. That being said, I still shop there on a regular basis.

Ugh.. on=in

Sorry about that!

Not that anyone hasn't suggested this yet, but why don't you take it back to Trader Joe's?

I used to work at a TJ's, and I must say they have the world's friendliest return policy. Bring back a 3/4 empty bottle of wine that you claim you didn't like? Alright, they'll give you a refund! Bring back a package that may or may not have had a shard of glass in it? Another refund!

Furthermore, Trader Joe's does not generally manufacture their own items. They buy products from suppliers and arrange contracts for the suppliers to package them in the Trader Joe's label.

But seriously, try taking it back before posting on here. TJ's is one of the few remaining decent companies around, and I'd like to keep them that way.

@HenrySteinbeck:

Not disagreeing with your point if the blender container was made of glass. But just to play devil's advocate, many high end blenders have stainless steel containers. If this was the case, it makes the chipped-glass-from-the-pitcher theory far less likely.