Just a little warning to the weak stomachs out there: Don’t read this if you’re eating lunch or ever want to enjoy canned Italian cuisine ever, ever again. A woman in Florida claims she was chowing down on some Chef Boyardee Mini Ravioli when she bit into an unexpected, disgusting surprise — what she calls a hairy-legged spider, hiding in a pocket of pasta.
“I spit it up…I screamed, rinsed my mouth out and I must have brushed my teeth till my teeth hurt,” the 48-year-old told Florida Today.
She’s contacted the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and hopes they’ll take the grody remnants from her freezer and analyze it to see exactly what it was taking a bath in her tomato sauce treat.
The woman also says she called ConAgra, the producer of the ravioli, to complain and they dismissed her claim.
“They told me it was a figment of my imagination, the woman on the phone said they have people who call all the time and that it was just a piece of meat,” she said. “But this was a spider. You can see its legs. It’s in the middle of the noodle, it’s got eyeballs and big hairy legs. Now I love Chef Boyardee, I thought it was the best ever. I would buy 20 cans a week for 30 years. But will I eat it again? Not in this lifetime.”
Now ConAgra says it’s reviewing her case.
“
Our consumer affairs team has had conversations with [the woman], and we’d like to continue working with her to understand the situation,” said a spokeswoman for ConAgra. “If we could have the can, we could do a lab analysis of what she found. We take all consumer concerns very seriously. My understanding is that in our first conversation with [her], we apologized to her, explained our quality assurance procedures, and asked if we could pick up the can. We reached out to [her] yesterday, to see what further actions she’d like us to take, as she has not given us the product for testing.”
She’s not so convinced that either the company or the FDA is going to help her out, however.
“I dont think the FDA is really serious about this, I haven’t heard anything else from them. (ConAgra) said they want to get it but I’m not going to let them take it. They can take pictures but I’m probably going to get it tested myself,” she explained.
She says she’s got a terrifying history with spiders already, after a Brown Recluse bit her in her 20s, and this definitely doesn’t help her state of mind.
“I couldn’t sleep at all last night. Every time my hair brushed against me, I jumped,” she said, adding, “I’m so afraid.”
I would be, too. I would be, too.
Mims woman claims canned ravioli held spider surprise [Florida Today]
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“Hairy spider surprise”
Thanks for that.
“Hairy spider surprise”
And here I’ve been going along thinking that name was already reserved for an interesting bedroom activity.
Hmm… yes, yes, very interesting, indeed…
constable clitoris et one of those
This woman is insane to think that mass produced cheap foods have 100% inspection to insure insects and bugs are not in food.
Also insects and bugs are food all around the world. If she is really scared of bugs and spiders in food then she needs to pay a lot more for food.
Also what does she think they will do??? Nothing.
What can they do about 1 bug in 1 can out of a billion? Nothing.
The FDA allows them to have bugs in their food. If it did not then that can of Chef Boyardee would be $10 a can.
Women = stupid
If she does not want to eat the spider then pull the bad ravioli out and eat the rest.
Andrew Zinmern would like the recipe for that.
“Now I love Chef Boyardee, I thought it was the best ever. I would buy 20 cans a week for 30 years. But will I eat it again? Not in this lifetime.”
Probably a good thing.
Ewwww! I’d be vomiting for days afterward.
She f’ing loved it.
I would buy 20 cans a week for 30 years. That equals 31,200 cans.
This is the REAL story here, not the damn spider.
Exactly.
yep. Basically every main meal of the week except for 1, was a can of Chef Boyardee. Just wow. I couldn’t do that for a week let alone a month (20 years is too much to contemplate).
And in all that time just one spider surprise. She probably beat the odds.
I’d look at it as free added protein!
It probably fell in the batch and no one saw it. If you actually ate the spider, it probably wouldn’t hurt you. People in some places eat roasted tarantula, and you can buy one from Thinkgeek.com.
That said, EW EW EW EW EW EW OMFG EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
AAAARRRGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHNIGHTMAREFUEL
Well if you react that way to a little deep fried spider you probably don’t want to know any of the “delicacies” we sampled, and ate in the field when I went through jungle school in the 80′s. lol!
This is a minor issue where a bug got into a can before it was sealed. This stuff happens and the world won’t fall apart. Big deal. Millions of cans are shipped every day and the one time this happens we’re supposed to think this is a major issues? Hardly. There is no conspiracy going on. Move on, next story.
It astonishes me that people are so freaked out at eating a spider, but have no issue consuming other dead animals like pig, cows, and chickens. Where does one draw the line on what is gross to eat and what isn’t? Not sure what makes eating a spider more inherently disgusting than eating a large mammal.
This is why I eat nothing from a can. I make everything – I even soak my own beans and rinse them before cooking.
DISGUSTING.
Canned foods should only be bought in preparation of an apocalypse.
Question: If there were an apocalypse and you found a spider in your canned food, would you eat it anyway? (The food, not the spider)
I would eat both the food and the spider. The spider’s probably more nutritious anyway!
I’d pick out the spider and eat the rest of the food. And as stated above, be very happy that I was upright and taking nourishment after an atomic bomb attack!
Question: If there were a nuclear apocalypse would canned food be any good? Doesnt radiation love metals and liquids and well everything.
I haven’t done the experiments myself personally, but I “have been told” that back in the nuke days (the 50s), the military wanted to know the answer to that exact question: is canned food safe after a nuke attack. In my recollection, they found that radioactive dust would settle on cans, but the only thing required to make the food safe was to wipe off the can to remove the dust.
So, maybe take it to the next level and use a little soap and water before opening the can, but hey, if you are still standing around hungry after a nuclear bomb has gone off in your vicinity, then you should consider yourself lucky. Eat whatever you want.
You’ve never found the occasional bug in your produce, pasta, or flour?
There are bug eggs (sometimes whole bugs) in all flour. You just usally cook and eat them before they can hatch. It is almost impossible to keep insect and or insect parts out of any food. There is a federal standard to how many bugs or parts of that can be in food.
I don’t use flour – gluten allergy.
I make a lot of raw food meals with veggies and fruits.
WASH ALL THE THINGS!
There is gluten free flower, so your allergy does not mean you dont eat flour.
@smo0; i bet you’re a fricking barrel of monkey’s to live with.
I agree with the call center that she probably was hallucinating seeing as she thinks Chef Boyardee is the best ever
Just remember, there are people starving in other countries.
Not sure if serious. Other countries also lack paved roads, I don’t take that into account when the two truck driver tries to price gouge me.
Does he drive them both at once? I vote pay that man whatever he asks, because he is amazing.
lf you think that’s bad, go read about the lady that was eating calamari and ended up with squid spermatophores inseminating her mouth.
“Now I love Chef Boyardee, I thought it was the best ever. I would buy 20 cans a week for 30 years.”
I can’t help to think of the episode of Trailer Park Boys when Ricky is embarrassed about eating 9 cans of ravioli.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3SU6sd9Uqk
“I mean, no one wants to admit they ate nine cans of ravioli, but I did and I’m ashamed of myself. The first can doesn’t count, but then you get to the second, and then the third.. the fourth and fifth I think I burned with the blow torch and then I just kept eating…”
The funny thing is… those ravioli have DEAD COW in them… Would she feel as disgusted to see the dead cows face in her bowl instead of a spider?
You must be a real hit at parties.
But she is right. Why is a dead spider worse than eating a cow? It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.
One was advertised as being part of the meal inside the can. The other wasn’t. Are you too thick to understand that? What’s so complicated about that?
in order to properly consume Chef Boyardee ravioli, you also need a side of white bread with margarine.
“I would buy 20 cans a week for 30 years. But will I eat it again? Not in this lifetime.”
The spider did her a favor.
I wonder if she eats meat.
DID YOU KNOW THAT MEAT IS A DEAD ANIMAL?
WHY ARE YOU SO AFRAID OF A DEAD ANIMAL IN YOUR FOOD?
Silly, she’s afraid of spiders, not dead animals!
As long as the dead animal was declared in the ingredients your comment has no point. Stop trying to be a smartass.
“If we took the bones out, it wouldn’t be crunchy.”
–Monty Python’s Whizzo Chocolate Factory (aka ‘crunchy frog’) sketch
Oh man, changing the pic is just wrong, but hilarious.
“…we found this mouse in a bottle of Elsinore beer that we bought at your beer store, eh?”
I call bullshit. This woman is looking for a payout.
Next in line, please!
agreed, i don’t buy it. sounds like a scam attempt.
I’m telling you, between Consumerist and Gawker I don’t need to pay for some fancy shmancy Weight Watchers membership or whatever, you guys do all the hard work for me!
I give the OP my condolences for her shock, because I also hate spiders. But most food comes with bugs.
When I was in grade school, I had to do a report on canned food, I don’t remember what I was supposed to be researching. (LONG before the internet). All I remember is that canned food had an allowance for “bug parts”. I remember being completely grossed out by this, but my parents were completely nonchalant. My father’s comment was something to the effect of “it’s just more protein”. My mother said she tried to remove whole bugs if she saw them, otherwise, it was cooked so no harm done. I will say we grew almost everything we ate and it was all organic as my parents were not going to pay extra for chemicals to spray on food they would eat. We even had our own bees and Dad made wine.
The sad part is that the spider is probably the healthiest part of that meal.
” I love Chef Boyardee, I thought it was the best ever. I would buy 20 cans a week for 30 years.”
Mmm hmm. This lady is a winner.
Let’s do the math: “twenty cans a week” means she ate it for three meals a day, seven days a week, except Thursday at lunchtime she had something else instead.
Sounds like she’s a nut job.
She says she wants someone to analyze it, but REFUSES to give it to THE COMPANY she contacted.
The fact her OWN HAIR was scaring her is evidence enough for me that she’s got mental issues (which ARE NOT from eating ravioli).
The fact that she refuses to give to them for testing means she’s bullshitting or is smart or has a good attorney who is being smart for her. Once you give it up you lose your leverage.
She should get the company to agree to her sending it to an independent lab for testing, otherwise she’s just some check chaser.
I agree. They could, “take it for testing” and then it could disappear. If she plan on suing, she should do her own test first, then give it to them.
She’s right. No one will help her. It’s not a big deal. Food processors are allowed “X” amount of insects etc in their product.
But spiders aren’t insects, so maybe she has a case there.
(/s)
I do not see the big deal. We all eat several spiders a year in our sleep.
I disagree. Stories like this, and others such as fast-food workers spitting on your food, should always be publicized and read widely by the public. Maybe the gross-out factor will help fix the obesity problem and get Americans to stop eating overly-processed, packaged Frankenfood and go back into the kitchen to learn how to cook home-made meals again.
A spider fell into the can at the plant. Big f’n deal, it happens. Grow up lady and stop being such a baby. (Coming from a big Arachnophobe)
Why do people over react so much these days? Yea it sucks but it happens. They can’t really prevent it. I’m sure its quite rare. One time a meal worm was in a bite sized brownie I ate. It was gross…so I threw that box away…no big deal
Adults eat Chef Boyardee?
Maybe it’s just me, but I was never a fan of canned Chef Boyardee anything, let alone multiple cans per week. To me, it always had a weird aftertaste, and had an odd texture. Plus the sodium level is enough to choke a horse. I can’t imagine wanting to eat 20 cans a week! That woman has no sense of taste.
And when she tried to de-stress by putting on her spider-woman costume and going to Universal Studios Orlando, they wouldn’t let her in. Life really sucks if you’re her.
You know what’s grosser than finding a spider in your dinner?
Consuming 20 cans of Chef Boyardee a week – gross!!!!!!!!!!!!
Look, the real victim here is the spider. Is the company going to compensate his family?
Trivia time:
Chef Boyardee was a real person, but “Boyardee” is not how his named was spelled. He had it spelled this way so people would pronounce his name correctly wherever his product went.
Hey, you eat Chef Boy-ar-dee? Well, what do you expect?
How was how she proceeded to eat the ravioli pertinent to finding a spider in her noodle?
The spider is far too intact for me to find her story credible. Even if it fell into the meat it still would have been mostly ground up in the process.
By the way you organic all natural folks eat more bug parts in your meals then the canned food eaters.
What’s your point?
Damn the chef for not removing the hair this time.
FLORIDA!!! lol!!!!!!
(The news article states that she was having a “freshly grilled ham and cheese sandwich with her fiance when she decided to warm up a plate of her favorite canned ravioli…”
Now THERE’S a combo!! Why is this woman not 300lbs???)
I once bought the holiday special “Can of spider parts” from ConAgra and the entire experience was ruined by all the chunks of ravioli and cow meat in there. From now on I am only eating spider parts straight off the web.
I make my own Chef Boyardee at home…
No, seriously. It’s pasta tossed in a tomato cream sauce, and it’s DELICIOUS YUMMY AWESOMENESS.
Italian Cuisine? Haha, that’s a good one. I wouldn’t feed that stuff to my dog or cat!