Last year, a rat head surprised a Utah woman when she opened her can of Allen's Italian Green Beans. That rat head earned its finder, Marianne Watson, an offer of $100 if she agreed to sign a non-disclosure agreement, which she didn't.

Despite the bribes, Allen's has nothing but confidence in their canning process:

Dear Mr. (redacted)

We are aware of the recent allegations regarding our product. However, we can confirm that the details released by the media are not accurate. We have spoken with the gentleman making the allegations but as of this date, none of the allegations have been confirmed as fact. What we can tell you is that because green beans grow out-of-doors and must be harvested by mechanical pickers close to the ground, it is not uncommon that field debris, insects and field pests may be present in the product when it is harvested and delivered to our plant for processing. Realizing this, we have equipped our production lines to rigorously wash and inspect raw product a half dozen times. Before filling the cans, they are inverted and steam flushed to assure cleanliness. The product is then filled into the cans with liquid, capped and cooked to the level of Pasteurization right inside the hermetically sealed cans, rendering the complete contents of the can commercially sterile. We utilize extensive quality control measures including technologically advanced equipment and trained inspectors. Just a few of the processes we utilize are quality checkpoints including blowers, de-stoning equipment, high pressure washers, metal detection and technically sensitive equipment, which scans the product for color and texture variances, rejecting any off-color object. Our company exceeds all FDA Requirements for food processing. In addition, we are constantly exploring new processes to improve our quality.

Quite honestly, we are at a loss to explain how something like this could have escaped our quality control measures and could have gotten through the rigorous quality process and into a can of our product. We want to assure you that our plants are extremely clean and our processes quite thorough. Allens places strong emphasis on quality assurance, utilizing competent, well-trained people and the best equipment in our plants and Corporate Laboratory. Our company packs millions of cans of product each year and I want to assure you that an incident such as this is extremely rare.

Although we have not had a chance to fully investigate this matter nor hear back on the results from the independent laboratory, we do know and can confirm scientifically that had there been any foreign material inside of the can, due to the stringent cooking process, the complete contents of the can would have been commercially sterile and would not have posed any sort of health hazard or threat to the public. Again, the Pasteurization process renders the product sterile and completely safe for consumption. While it is our goal that our products be aesthetically pleasing to our Customers, incidents such as this pose no health hazard or risk. Obviously this is a raw commodity grown in a field and as such, is subject to exposures that occur within nature. The FDA governs our processes and recognizes that there is no measure within the canning industry to prevent incidents of foreign material from entering the product 100% of the time.

Thank you for taking the time to contact us regarding your concerns. We sincerely hope that you will give our Company another chance.

Sincerely,

Kathy Turner
Manager, Consumer Relations
Corporate Services Department
ALLENS, INC.
PO Box 250
Siloam Springs, AR 72761
kturner@allens.com

As for Walmart... well, according to spokesman Phillip Keene:

Food safety is a top priority at Wal-Mart. We take customer concerns seriously.

Man who found rat head in beans says canner told him contents of can would have been safe to consume [Beaumont Enterprise]
Utah Woman Also Finds Rat Head In Green Bean Can [KFDM]
(Photo: KFDM)

From: Tracking Info

Date: Wed, Feb 6, 2008 at 8:02 PM
Subject: Your Amazon Order # [redacted]
To: [redacted]

Dear Valued Customer,

We noticed that you had left neutral feedback. We apologize that you were not happy with your purchase and look forward to resolving this situation. We would like to extend our apologies for this inconvenience, as this was not our intention and we look forward to correcting the problem.

We would like to offer you a partial product refund if the feedback is removed. As soon as the feedback is removed we will issue the refund. Please contact me at tracking_info@mygearstore.com or call 1-800-290-2492, so we can process your removal.

If you've left feedback on a Marketplace or Merchant seller and would like to remove it, you can do this through Your Account.

1. Go to http://www.amazon.com/your-account.

2. Find the pull-down menu next to View by Order. Select ORDERS PLACED IN THE LAST 6 MONTHS, and hit the GO button.

3. After you sign in, you'll find a listing of your recent orders. Select the relevant order and click the VIEW ORDER button.

4. You will find a feedback section 2/3rds of the way down the page. To remove feedback, click on the REMOVE link in the feedback section of the order summary.

5. You may only remove feedback if it is 60 days or less since you left the feedback.

If you have any further questions, comments, or concerns. Please feel free to email us at tracking_info@mygearstore.com or call 1-800-290-2492

Best Regards,

Isaac Olson
Customer Service Department
My Gear Store Inc.
1454 E. 33rd St.
Signal Hill, CA 90755
1 (800) 290-2492
tracking_info@mygearstore.com
Please Visit www.mygearstore.com

PREVIOUSLY: TheCellShop.net Caught Bribing Customers To Submit "Perfect" Reviews
(Photo: Getty)

ResellerRatings does not condone fake reviews. For the past 13 years, we have worked hard to develop anti-fraud tools, both automated and manual, and we disable fraudulent reviews every day. When we heard about the Cell Shop's actions, we immediately began contacting all Cell Shop reviewers to verify that they were not, in fact, offered money for their positive reviews, and to obtain proof of their valid transactions (order invoices, credit card statements, etc) and we have disabled reviews where money was offered for positive reviews.

Word up Steve-o, make them go outside and pick out their own switch from the hickory tree.

(Photo: Getty)

I've done a little business with this company in the past, thecellshop.net, ordering replacement parts for my Blackberry.  Overall, their customer service is pretty good, even though they messed up an order of mine, they made it right in the end without any trouble.  But this type of thing seems very dishonest - offering money for a perfect review!  They even tell you how to cheat the system so that your order number seems correct to the ratings website.

From: service@thecellshop.net Date: Thu, May 1, 2008 at 1:06 PM Subject: We will give you $5 for submitting a review To: XXXXXXX@gmail.com   Dear Valued Customer,   If you have purchased from us before and feel we did a good job, please use the link below and rate us 10/10 and we will give you $5.00 in credit to use for anything on our website.   Give us a review here:   http://www.resellerratings.com/store/TheCellShop_net   It will ask you for an invoice #, it will start with a 4 and is 7 digits long.  If you do not have your invoice # anymore you can enter in 7 random digits with a 4 as the first digit.   After you write the review, please email me at danny@thecellshop.net so I can give you the $5.00 coupon.   Coupon offer: $5.00 off your sub-total.  Must order directly from www.thecellshop.net   Thanks for shopping with TheCellShop.net!   danny@thecellshop.net

Starbucks grotesquely mishandled their free coffee stunt—they could have been collecting credit card apps all day long.

In Chicago, some McDonald's restaurants are offering free hotcakes to people who early-vote in the local runoff elections! My friend cashed in this morning and enjoyed her hot breakfast.

This is almost certainly a violation of Illinois law:
(10 ILCS 5/29 1) (from Ch. 46, par. 29 1)
Sec. 29 1. Vote buying.
Any person who knowingly gives, lends or promises to give or
lend any money or other valuable consideration to any other person to
influence such other person to vote or to register to vote or to
influence such other person to vote for or against any candidate or
public question to be voted upon at any election shall be guilty of a
Class 4 felony.
(Source: P. A. 78 887.)

UPDATE: We took our Chicago knowledge for granted. Yes, the pancake flier does name the candidate up for election: Alderman Howard Brookins. From Chicagoist:

According to the person who spoke with us at the campaign headquarters (who refused to give a name) this is a "campaign contribution" from a business leader in the community who supports Brookins.