From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

"I feel violated," the alleged victim said, fighting back tears. "I'm aware people fake stuff like this, but no amount of money will ever make it worth going through what I did and what I continue to go through every day."

The paper says that the woman drove back to McDonald's and confronted the staff, who "initially suggested the iced tea tank might not have been cleaned, but acknowledged what the woman presented in the iced tea cup."

She complained to the health department. Their response was less than what the woman had hoped for:

Public Health — Seattle & King County spokeswoman Hilary Karasz said the department received a complaint and an inspector went to the store on Sept. 25.

"He reviewed cleaning and sanitizing with the manager to make sure they have good practices there," Karasz said. "He asked the manager if she knew about other spitting incidents. She did not."

The inspector called the complainant back and the case was closed.

Here's the official statement from the McDonald's owner. He's taking it seriously:

"Food safety and quality at my restaurant, is a top priority," restaurant franchisee David Santillanes said in a statement. "Rest assured, we take these matters seriously and investigate all allegations to gather the facts.

"At this time, these are just claims. I strongly caution anyone from jumping to conclusions without having all the facts. Until we have been able to complete our investigation to gather the facts, it would be inappropriate to further comment or speculate."

Police are currently reviewing surveillance camera footage to see if anyone spit in the tea.

Woman: McDonald's employee spit in my drink [Seattle P-I]
(Photo:youngthousands)

The New York City-funded study looked at 1,127 Starbucks purchases and 1,830 from Dunkin' Donuts, and included surveys of customers at 42 Starbucks and 73 Dunkin Donuts. After reviewing the data, the CDC concluded:

Blended coffee beverages have many more calories than does a brewed cup of coffee or tea, to which calories are introduced mainly from added milk or sugar. One high-calorie blended coffee beverage sold at Starbucks is the Strawberries & Crème Frappuccino Blended Crème; the largest size ("venti," 24 oz) with whipped cream contains 750 kcal, or approximately 38% of the 2,000-kcal diet often used as a benchmark for total daily calorie intake. A large Dunkin' Donuts Vanilla Bean Coolatta (32 oz) contains 860 kcal.

While most of the data collected by the CDC might seem obvious to anyone who's ever tasted one of these drinks, the agency does make some good points about how coffee chains could offer customers lower-calorie alternatives:

Small changes on the industry's part could also help reduce calorie intake. The high calorie content of blended coffee beverages is attributable in part to the large portion sizes. At Dunkin' Donuts, the sizing for small, medium, and large ice-blended drinks is 16 oz, 24 oz, and 32 oz, respectively, and the average calorie content we calculated was 397 kcal. However, if Dunkin' Donuts adopted Starbucks sizing of 12 oz, 16 oz, and 24 oz for its ice-blended beverages, the average calories in beverages offered would drop to 285 kcal.

The report also acknowledged efforts undertaken by both Starbucks and Dunkin' to introduce lower-calories drinks. In the end, though, the findings were somewhat inconclusive, stating that the drinks "most likely contribute to the obesity epidemic." Hmm. Sounds like it's time for another study.

Calories From Beverages Purchased at 2 Major Coffee Chains in New York City, 2007 [CDC via Gothamist]
(Photo: basheertome)

The CSPI says that it has received reports from more than a thousand people that "they have suffered adverse reactions, including nausea, violent vomiting, uncontrollable diarrhea, and even life-threatening anaphylactic reactions after eating the patties, cutlets, tenders and other products made with Quorn's fungus."

David Wilson, managing director of Quorn, discounts the claims and says the lawsuit is frivolous. "Quorn has been in the U.S. market since 2002 and has been enjoyed by millions of Americans. We have developed our labeling with the Food and Drug Administration and it is accurate and fair," Wilson told the Los Angeles Times. The fungus that Quorn is made from was discovered in the U.K. in the 1960s.

"In the 1960s, people were concerned that we would run out of protein and started a search for new protein sources that could feed the world and discovered this fungus that grows naturally in soil," said Wilson. "It makes a delicious and nutritious meat alternative."

We can't comment on the CSPI's claims, but we would like to point out that the world actually hasn't run out of protein. Also — and we know we may be going out on a limb here — there may just be some more appetizing alternatives out there to vat-grown fungus.

Makers of Quorn, the Chicken-Flavored Fungus, Sued for Not Disclosing Dangerous Reactions [CPSI]
Lawsuits target chicken and its veggie substitutes [LA Times]

(Photo: Stacy Greene, CPSI)

If you're of a delicate disposition, go read our Cash4Gold investigation again. Or look at this post on Cute Overload. Trust us. Do not proceed.

...FDA tests show that the animal, which the finders said resembled "pink spaghetti" by the time it reached them, wasn't a mouse. It was a gutted frog or toad.

It was a what now?

The DeNegris took pictures before calling poison control and the FDA, which showed up the next day to examine the can in question and collect it for lab testing.

The couple received a copy of the completed report last week from the Food and Drug Administration Office of Regulatory Affairs, which concluded the foreign matter appeared to be a frog or a toad.

"The animal was lacking internal organs normally found in the abdominal and thoracic cavity," the report notes.

A second, closed can from the same 36-pack of Diet Pepsi from Sam's Club, was also submitted for testing, according to Amy DeNegri. No abnormalities were detected, the report states.

That's great. The problem is that nobody, including Pepsi, knows how a frog, much less a gutted frog, could have possibly found its way into the production line. This is not comforting.

FDA says residue is frog or toad; how did it get in Pepsi can? [CNN]

(Photo: bionicteaching)

Recounting what happened to a Des Moines register reporter, she said:

"I started with my side dishes, you know, macaroni and baked beans, and then I had one of the wings. The first one was OK, but on the second one, I felt something in my mouth that I know wasn't no chicken.

"I spit it out and it looked like hair or something. I poked at it because it looked funny. I said: ‘That's mouse fur or something.'"

The diner rejected an offer of a free replacement meal, and has retained a lawyer.

Mercifully, the pictures are too blurry to identify exactly what's in them, so we'll just have to wait until lab tests come back.

Warning: Blog contains fried rodent reference [Des Moines Register]

(Photo: Des Moines Register)

"We wanted to stay away from it. So, I stapled the bag up — saved it as evidence I guess," said Mackenzie Handel, one of Tallman's students.

Handel said he went to pick up the egg McMuffins for himself and the teacher from the McDonald's at Arizona Avenue and Ray Road.

"Oh, it freaked me out! I was like scared, cuz I don't like those things," said Handel.

McDonald's points out that it's possible the scorpion may have come from inside the student's car, but no one was stung, no one wants to sue, and they're happy to refund the cost of the McMuffins.

Teacher finds scorpion with his food in McDonald's bag [ABC 15]

The diner alleges that he discovered the object after he somehow put it in his mouth and briefly chewed on it. He then ran to the bathroom and vomited, like any sensible person. Hospital tests showed that it was a tampon, and he has been tested for blood-borne diseases.

Curiously, even though this happened over two weeks ago, we haven't been able to find an update to the story.

We held an emergency meeting of the women on the Consumerist editorial staff, and came to the following conclusions:

• We're confused about the very logistics of this incident. How does this happen? No, seriously, how could it happen in McDonald's, let alone the Waldorf?
• The tampon doesn't really look "used."
• If there's blood on this thing, is it human? There's blood in meat.
• How could a steak leave the kitchen that way?
• How does one put a tampon in one's mouth without noticing?
• if a woman wanted to sabotage someone's food, she'd find a way more subtle way about it.
• Ewwww!

In summary, we concur with our esteemed former colleagues at Gawker: the tourist's claims are most likely bulls**t.

Alternately, this could be part of some kind of agricultural cross-breeding program to combine crops. You know, like Tomacco. Growing beef cattle that also contain cotton. Monsanto is probably behind it somehow.

Tourist claims used tampon was in steak [WABC] (Thanks, GetEmSteveDave!)
Waldorf-Astoria Serves 'Steak Surprise' to German Tourist, Allegedly [Gawker]

His wife told WFTV, "He made a face. I was sitting there and he said it tasted awful and something wasn't right." According to the couple, there was what appeared to be a mouse inside the can.

Here's how they described it.

"We're not sure what it is. It was pink. It looks like spaghetti. It's really sick," the wife said.

Pepsi said that something might have crawled in the can and died after it was open, but the couple doesn't really seem convinced. The FDA has opened an investigation into the incident, you can read their report here (PDF).

Couple Claims They Found Mouse In Can Of Pepsi [WFTV] (Thanks, Justin!)

Philip Hodousek, the alleged victim, says the general manager attempted to pass it off as a piece of a rubber glove, but according to the Digital Journal, "The family inspected the item more closely deciding that it was in fact a condom."

Hodousek took the condom with him and had it tested by a lab, which found female DNA on it. Happy Easter! Hodousek is now suing the restaurant.

The problem, however, is that Claim Jumper says the entire lawsuit is without merit, and that they've found no evidence to support his claims. They also say they conducted DNA tests on female employees—which we find a little hard to believe, but who knows, maybe the employees voluntarily submitted to it—and none of them match the DNA on the condom. In addition, they say Hodousek failed to show up for a DNA test of his own at their request.

"Waiter, there's a rubber in my soup" [Digital Journal] (Thanks to Dave!)
(Photo: foodistablog)

A woman in Tyler, TX found a surprise waiting for her in the bottom of her "Great Value" green beans from Walmart— a frozen frog.

From KLTV:

"Thank goodness I had put butter in the bottom of the bowl," said Erbaugh. "I went to stir it and there's this brown clump."

The good news is that she has a sense of humor about it.

"That's a frog!" she said. "Or worse than that, it's part of a frog - 75% of it. They didn't even give me the frog legs with it."

Yeah, you know what? The legs are the good part. What a ripoff.

The reporter talked to a Northeast Texas Public Health District official who told them: "When you're washing field vegetables, you're going to get certain little pieces and parts, but we certainly don't want something so large you can identify what it is."

I'm going to have to sort of disagree with her here... If I'm going to have mysterious dead things in my beans — I would rather be able to identify what they are. That's just my personal preference.

Woman finds frog in frozen veggies [KLTV](Thanks, Courtney!)

Once we got home ( we ordered using the drive thru, so we just went straight home to eat ) I opened my bag, and unwrapped my burger only to see what seemed at the time like a part of the burger was missing. I take the whole burger out and remove the bun and notice that the part that seemed like it was missing, was bitten into! I have attached photos of the burger and receipt.

I called the number on the reciept 7 times and I get no answer. I have also tried getting in touch with corporate, with no luck on the phone.

Check out the full-detail cheeseburger carnage below. Is this a simple case of misshapen patty, did his burger fall apart, or did someone really chomp down on this burger before putting it on a bun?

A defence lawyer told the court that the presence of the mouse was a shock to the company. He suggested it might have been put in the tin to "sabotage" the baker who has been in business for 60 years and has never had any complaints.

Neither the man who bought the bread nor the rat's family received settlements for their pain and suffering.

RELATED: Man Finds Mouse Baked Into His Hot Dog Buns

Man found dead mouse in malt loaf [BBC] (Thanks, Kristin!)

"Hair In Food Leads To Jail" [The Intelligencer] (Thanks to Chad!)
(Photo: publik15)

The first photo comes from Steven, who received this Ultimate Cheeseburger from Jack in the Box. Expecting something that at least remotely resembled the promo image above, he received a sandwich that looked like it had been stomped on. "Did I eat it? Yes," he wrote. "Was it good? No. It was merely OK."

Clearly this would NOT have happened on Blake's watch.

Meanwhile, Emily brought home this delicious-looking frozen pizza from Whole Foods. She discovered the cold, hard reality when she opened the package: the exterior photo was a bit deceiving. She wrote:

Opening the package was a bit of a let down, especially since one of the edges of the pizza was bent at a 90 degree angle.

The chicken is really the most misleading part of the photo.

(It tasted yummy, though!)

RELATED: Fast Food: Ads vs. Reality

James sent us his correspondence with Quaker.

He first wrote:

My 7 year old pulled a 2 inch sliver of WOOD out of her bowl yesterday morning, which I am very glad did not end up in her mouth. This would be the very first time we have tried this product, from this months Costco coupon, and now I have 4 pounds of Granola that no one wants to go near. How can I get a replacement or a refund? How would have this gotten in to the bag? Are there wood mixing paddles in the process anywhere? This is all too bad because they really liked the taste until she found the wood.

James:

We're very sorry about the experience your daughter had with our Natural Granola Oats, Honey & Raisins cereal and understand your concern. Your family's well-being is very important to us and we're relieved to learn that your daughter wasn't injured by the object she found in her bowl.

To begin, we're sending full value coupons to replace your purchase; they should arrive in about a week. Also, we're sharing your report with our quality assurance team. However, we need to request additional information from the package; please e-mail the additional code information following the Best Before Date found on the bottom of bag (in fold).

Next, be assured that many safeguards are in place in our plants to prevent foreign materials from coming into contact with the product. Screening equipment and inspection procedures should prevent an occurrence such as you reported.

Finally, James, we hope you'll accept our apologies, again—as well as our thanks for the chance to respond to the situation. Hopefully we've done so in a way that satisfies your concerns and questions, and allows us to keep you as a valued consumer. We know you have a choice of brands and always appreciate your choosing ours.

Geri
Quaker Consumer Relations

He responded:

Hello-

The (see attached) Best before date:
Aug 30 09 A(or R)B BB

I don't think Costco accepts coupons so I am not sure what good that would do me there.

Thanks-James

James:

Thank you for contacting us. We are sorry to hear that you were not satisfied with the response to your previous contact regarding Quaker Natural Granola Oats, Honey & Raisins.

We always try to understand each consumer's concern, and then provide high quality service. It appears that in your case, your concerns and expectations were not completely understood. We appreciate that you let us know, so that we can further improve our service in the future.

An adjustment for any product that does not meet our high standards of quality is usually made in the form of a coupon of equivalent or greater value for another product. Thus, coupon value to replace the product was previously included with additional value to compensate for your inconvenience. Since this form of compensation was not to your satisfaction, we are enclosing a refund for your purchase in the interest of good consumer relations. Additionally, we are sending a special gift for your 7 year old.

Mr. _____, we hope you'll accept our apologies, again—as well as our thanks for the chance to respond to the situation. Hopefully we've done so in a way that satisfies your concerns, and allows us to keep you as a valued consumer. We know you have a choice of brands and always appreciate your choosing ours.

Peggy
Supervisor
Quaker Consumer Relations

Of course, a photo like this demands that we include Patton Oswalt's rant about KFC Food Bowls. It's NSFW in terms of language.

After finishing his Wendy's chili, which was presumably fine, he carefully inspected his sandwich before taking a chomp.

A charge of tampering with food is pending for Bender. Monroe could be charged with aiding and abetting or conspiracy, police said.

Deputies are waiting for Bender's blood test results. If he has any diseases, the misdemeanor charge will be escalated to a felony.

Cecil said the whole incident has police disgusted.

"(Officers) don't have a chance to go home and get a meal and have to rely on these places," Cecil said. "And who knows if this has happened in the past? This time we caught somebody."

It's not easy being a cop. Still unknown, whether the cop had any difficulty ordering a liter of cola.

Deputy Reports Finding Pubic Hair On Fast-Food Sandwich [WTOV via Barf Blog]

"You kind of don't want chips for a while" after something like that, she said.

Schweiger contacted the Madison office of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and an official there told her to hang onto the bag for an investigation, she said.

FDA officials could not be reached for comment Friday.

Schweiger isn't sure what she'll do next but hopes the FDA can track down the owner of the phone.

She's glad she found the phone and not a child who might have put it in his or her mouth, she said. She's also glad the phone wasn't in a product she would have heated, she said.

Schweiger doesn't know when she'll have an appetite for potato chips again, but when she does, she'll do things a little differently.

"I will never, ever eat chips out of a bag again," she said. "They will be dumped in the bowl."

Local woman finds unpleasant surprise in her potato chips [The Janesville Gazette] (Thanks to Rob!)

From the Maryland Daily Record:

"She took a sip, it burned her mouth and she spit it out," said Patricia S. Steiger, of the Law Offices of Seymour Goldstein.

Jones, an administrative assistant, convinced the restaurant employees to open the closed interior of the restaurant in the 4200 block of Mortimer Ave., Steiger said. The workers gave her some milk - and a sample of what she unwittingly put in her mouth, the lawyer said.

"They gave her a packet like the one that had been in there - as a matter of knowing what it was - to take with her and then she went to the emergency room" at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Steiger said.

There, doctors determined Jones had "a mild or moderate chemical reaction," Steiger said, and eventually diagnosed her with chemical pharyngitis and tonsillitis. By mid-November, she had made a full recovery, according to Steiger.

The chemical in question is intended to be mixed with gallons of water and used to clean drink machines. Predictably, McDonald's is "taking it seriously,":

Franchise owner Cynthia Brown declined to comment on the pending litigation, instead issuing an e-mailed statement through a McDonald's spokeswoman.

"Nothing is more important to me than the well-being of my customers," the e-mail said. "Rest assured, we take this matter seriously."

Previously, McDonald's also took metal screws baked into their apple pies seriously.

Woman sues McDonald's over contents of cup [MD Daily Record] (Thanks, Stanton!)
(Photo:Paxton Holley)

Chris says:

I purchased some State Fair mini Corn Dogs (Classic, 60 count) last week, and the corndogs pictured on the box appear to be the same corndogs I've known and loved for years: about 3 inches long by 1.5 inches across.

However, when I opened the box, the corndogs inside were all spherical, about 1 inch in diameter.

The reason I bought the corndogs was because getting 60 of the product pictured on the box for the price I paid seemed like a good deal.

After realizing I only got about half the amount of food I expected, it doesn't seem like such a good deal anymore.

I contacted SaraLee about it; waiting to hear what they have to say.

While you're waiting, maybe you could heat some of these up and sneak them into someone's Dunkin' Donuts Munchkins box? Eh? Think about it.

Corndog Bait and Switch [ChrisFinke]

"I was cooking dinner and I brought these out and I opened them up," he said. "That's our little friend right there. And that clearly is a mouse."

NBC says that when he called Arnold bread, the company that made the buns, they told him that he didn't need to call the store where he bought the item. But he did anyway.

From KARE 11:

The IBM executive says he doesn't want money from this ordeal, just answers and action.

Bruce says "that's certainly noticeable. I mean, somebody should have seen that. It got put into a bag."

So he called Arnold bread but says they told him not to call the Concord store where he bought the buns.

Bruce says "she told me, 'ah no, you don't need to call BJ's, just send it back to us.'"

But he says, he worried about other customers.

Bruce says "mice don't travel in isolation. The travel with other mice and if one mouse got in, others could've."

BJ's Wholesale apparently worried, too. They pulled all bread products made at the same Florida factory where these buns came from.

Bruce says "other consumers should be concerned about this. How did it get there? Is it the only one?"

That's a damn good question, Bruce.

Man finds mouse parts baked into hot dog buns [KARE 11] (Thanks, Mike!)

"Dear Mrs. Carrier:

Thank you for contacting us concerning Cascadian Farm. We appreciate the opportunity to address this matter. Unfortunately, there is no one available for you to interview. However, I have included some information about the history behind the faces.
The tradition of hiding names or faces on Cascadian Farm packaging began over a dozen years ago. It was unspoken tribute by the package design department to the friends & family of Cascadian Farm. The faces won’t be included on our redesigned packaging.

If you have any further questions or concerns, please let us know.

Sincerely,

Leah Giovanni

Consumer Services"

The also found some more faces on this jar of grape jam. We're sorry to see the horrifying little faces go. It's creepy, but it's sort of wonderful in a way.

WTF BROCCOLI PART DEUCE. [Bread & Honey]

Here's a close-up. They look so happy. And green. And decapitated.

WTF, BROCCOLI? [Bread & Honey] (Thanks, Ryan!)

Bobby says:

So has anyone noticed how horrible the new Kraft Ranch Dressing tastes ever since they came out with the new bottle designs a few months back? Well, I noticed it and emailed Kraft to tell them how bad the new stuff tastes. I received an email back appologizing and saying that they have indeed changed their recipe in many of their salad dressings. The lady also said she was going to send me a reimbursement in the mail to reimburse me for the bottle that I purchased. I got the letter today and they actually sent me a coupon for a free bottle of Kraft Salad Dressing. LOL. Why would I want another bottle of the same stuff I wrote in to complain about how badly it tastes?

Kraft had good intentions in mind, but obviously weren't using their head.

Hmm, we suppose you could try the "Zesty Italian" or something? But yeah, a coupon for more of the crap you didn't like is not exactly the same as a reimbursement. Sigh.

Jarrett says:

Well, on my recent trip to McDonald's I ordered my usual 2 Cheeseburger Value Meal, Plain. Now I've had mix ups before and I just call the store and usually they are like "sorry" and "we will put you on a list so the next time you come in we will replace it."

So, today when one of my burgers not only had pickles, ketchup, etc on it, but it also didn't have any meat, I called and a person who identified herself as the manager wanted me to drive back to replace it. Well, I live out in the country so this is the most convenient thing for me— which I explained to her, but she said, "Well, if I wanted to bring it back" that she would replace it and more or less hung up on me.

Oh that's such a sad looking burger. We think you should call up McDonald's corporate and ask for some coupons and stuff. We doubt very much that they'll make you drive over to their headquarters to get them.

Tipster Alexander writes:

These were in plain view at the Warren NJ Quiznos. It's one of those creepy bug zapper raquets with the dirty rag the guy used to pick up hot things with on top of it. This is taken with my iphone from right where you stand when you order a sandwich. I am never eating there again.

Whatever is up there, it's not artisan bread.

From Cake Wrecks (the picture on the right is supposedly what the bride ordered):

1) The top tier still had the Springform pan under it.

2) The cake "base" is a metal sign.

3) I swear I am not making this up.

...

Now like you, I'm sure, I was highly skeptical about this being a "professional" cake. However, the e-mail came from the bride herself, and she seemed outraged enough to be telling the truth. (Yes, a replacement cake was procured at the eleventh hour.) I can only assume the icing and generic tips in the photo were purchased to try and "fix" the cake after it was picked up. In fact, Vicky C., if you're reading this, you might want to chime in on the Comments section now, just to back me up here.

[crickets chirping]

Vicky? Er, Vicky, c'mon now, this isn't funny.

Whatever the real story is, someone made this cake and that's hilarious enough all on it's own. Picturing someone trying to "fix" this cake with a ziplock bag full of green icing... Oh dear. We've got the giggles.

Oh, and if you enjoyed this alleged disaster, here's another one that's almost as bad.

I Think I've Just Been Punk'd [Cake Wrecks] (Thanks, Kerry!)

Doomsday prognostications aside, at least people who like Pizza Hut now have something to look down on.

The End Is Near [She Eats via Buzzfeed]

Seth's friend Josh writes:

I visited Los Angeles a few weeks ago and met up with my friend Seth at the Bluebird Cafe in Culver City. While we were there, Seth ordered a delicious tuna melt sandwich. When it arrived we were startled to see a cricket come hopping out (see attached photos). It was huge, several inches long! We immediately called a waitress over and told her what happened, showing her the cricket on the table. She proceeded to pick the cricket up and throw it on the ground, and then went back to work as usual. We were dumbfounded that she didn't offer to replace the sandwich. I believe that Seth was quoted as saying, "Did that just happen?" We tracked down another waiter who finally took back the sandwich, and gave Seth a free cupcake. You know what they say, the only thing worse than finding an enormous cricket in your tuna melt is finding half an enormous cricket! Their website says that they only use organic food grown at Rainbow Creek Farms, and I believe it!

Free cupcake:

Jamie writes:

Me and my 4 other military friends were enjoying our appetizers when our food arrived. After eating a few bites, I noticed a "food good until" date sticker cooked in with my food. I did not know a date was required on my food...

Anyways, we called the waiter over to show him what was going on. "Well," he said, "Sometimes the food bags and stickers can be mixed in with the chicken when cut up."

WTF! He said he is sorry and is there anything else he can do? Yes you can sir, you can get me another bowl of my food, cooked new. Well, he took the bowl back and about 2 min later he brought out another bowl... 2 min to cook a new bowl?

It looked exactly the same. My fork was still in the bowl. I told him I wanted it to go. He said he was sending the manager over to talk to me. Well the manager came over and said he was sorry and "any drinks need to be refilled?"

Jamie says he didn't get new food, nor did the manager take the sticker pasta off the bill. You stay classy, Applebee's!

Ron Siegel, co-owner, told the Journal they have traced the rocks back to a shipment of raisins they received from Hillcrest Foods, a food distributor. When Pigs Fly has since sent the shipment of raisin back to the distributor.

The raisins were traced back to a Chilean company where an older method of drying grapes is used. This old method dries the grapes in between the rows of vineyard. While this method works well, it does allow for more contamination by small rocks and other foreign materials.

When Pigs Fly Inc. did offer compensation for the loaves of “rocky” bread. Siegel said Snyder originally wanted five loaves of bread shipped to his house in North Reading, but a compromise was reached, and Snyder was sent a $5 check.

Snyder is not bitter about the situation. “I have nothing bad to say,” said Snyder. “I am sure this is an isolated event.”

Oh well, we're glad they worked it out. That must be some tasty raisin bread.

Rocks in raisin bread traced to Chilean company [Wicked Local](Thanks, R Interger !)

F1.4 says:

This morning I went to one of my favorite restaurants in northern VA for breakfast – it’s a very classy joint, and the food and service is always spectacular. I was sitting outside finishing up my steak and eggs and had just put away my first cup of coffee. As most of my friends know, I generally avoid caffeine so even a little bit is like liquid crack for me, and the first cup had cleared my head and made an already beautiful morning that much better.
The ever attentive waiter noticed my empty cup and promptly topped me off – by now I was rockin the caffeine, the birds were chirping, the sun was smiling, so I gulped down another mouthful and……and something is really wrong here – what the hell did I just drink – It looks like coffee, but I don’t think it is, as a matter of fact it tasted like hot Soy Sauce?! Suddenly I wasn’t sure if I just drank coffee, soy sauce, or maybe some cleaning chemical ended up in the coffee. I am almost instantly nauseous, probably not from what I drank, but my mind and body running in overdrive trying to figure out if I should hurl, because whatever I just drank sure as hell wasn’t coffee.

I call the maitre de over and explain they had a serious problem with their coffee. About two minutes later the manager stops by to tell me they had a mix-up, and that I had indeed just enjoyed a steaming mouthful of Soy Sauce. Apparently they keep heated Soy Sauce in a coffee carafe for fish dishes, and somehow the carafe of Soy Sauce was mixed in with the carafes of regular coffee. The manager was mortified, and comped my breakfast and acknowledged that I was probably not pleased at the moment and she hoped I would be enticed to come back with a fifty dollar gift card.

I felt the restaurant responded appropriately so I won't post its name, and I am glad I didn’t boot my breakfast in a classy joint, but doesn’t Soy Sauce look a little too much like coffee to be putting it in a coffee carafe – nobody saw this coming?

We agree, the restaurant responded completely appropriately, but still, the story was too funny not to share. Hot soy sauce. Eeeeeeeewww! Time for someone at that restaurant to buy one of these.

(Photo: F1.4 )

UPDATE: The name of the mysterious soy-coffee restaurant has been revealed on DCist!

Asked whether the health department thought the lizard came with the lettuce, or whether it was placed with the lettuce later, Davis said, “I don’t want to speculate or place blame.”

The health department has not fined or sanctioned the restaurant, Davis said. The sanitarian’s investigation revealed that nothing appeared out of the ordinary and that Applebee’s staff did nothing wrong, she said.

Employees showed how they wash the lettuce, cut it, then wash it again. “They couldn’t fathom how it (a lizard) got through the process…and they profusely apologized,” Davis said.

Applebee's officials promised that "the report was being taken very seriously."

Lizard reportedly found in salad at Applebee's [Pantagraph]
(Photo: Getty)

Nohreen writes:

... The worker said that she personally cut the apple and that it was not rotten. It was brown because it had been an hour since it left the store. The worker also said that they could not do anything about it because apples turn brown. I said I would go to the store to show the worker that it was rotten. She told me that if I wanted to waste my gas, I could go to the store but they still couldn’t do anything about it.

We got to the store at approximately 5:30 PM and proceeded to make a complaint to the worker. The workers would not acknowledge our presence and decided to call security on us instead. Security arrived and took our statement and informed us that if we wanted to make a complaint we would have to go to the mall concierge. After talking with security for roughly 30 minutes, we were escorted to the concierge. We explained what had happened and the person at the concierge informed us that we could not make a complaint at the concierge. He let us know that complaints were only taken at the security office.

The concierge gave us a piece of paper containing the phone number for the storeowner of Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. The store owner was contacted at 6:05 pm. The person who answered had the correct name but she was not the owner of the store. Afterwards, we walked back to the concierge to get the correct number. When we arrived at the concierge, we were told that he could not help us anymore because security had told him so. He then took the paper containing the number, crumpled it up and took it with him. He told us that he could no longer help us and that we would need to call the mall management the following day to get further assistance.

I was appalled that they called the security on me when I wasn't even making a scene. I was just there waiting patiently for them. It was an insult to call a security on your customer. Also, we were told by the security that according to the employee per the owner they would not replace the apple. A child or anyone could have eaten that apple. I can only surmise the quality of their products and how they conduct their business. In my opinion, it only takes one bad apple to infect the rest of the bunch. When I went to the store, I wanted a replacement....now I want action. They need to learn how to conduct good customer service. I want employees to be trained better, and if needed, be reprimanded...not just employees but the owner as well.

Nohreen sent us some photos of the apple in question. We're not botanists or anything, but that looks nasty. She says she's filed complaints with just about every agency out there, and appears to have the situation well in hand, so we'll just end this by saying, "Ew."

And now we pause for a moment to bring you a photograph from our "Unacceptable Food Files." Reader David asks, "How hard is a chicken soft taco to make? Really."

Apparently, David, it's really, really, hard. Personally, I can't even imagine doing it without some sort of certification. Maybe Del Taco needs to follow Starbucks' lead and hold a "unique in-store education event" that will give Del Taco's taco baristas "an opportunity to connect and deepen their passion for [tacos] with the ultimate goal of transforming the customer experience."

Or whatever.

Howard Schultz Transformation Agenda Communication #6 [Starbucks]

From the UPI:

Officials said tests revealed the roach found on the take-out meatlovers pizza was cooked alive with the pie.

Yum! brands, the U.S. operator of the Pizza Hut, lost its license for a month and then reopened with "increased cleaning practices," according to the (Australia) Sunday Mail. The Brisbane Magistrates Court ordered the company to pay a fine of $35,000, and Yum! has said it is sorry for the incident. No word on whether the customer who got the cockroach pizza has stopped screaming yet.

Company fined $35,000 for roach problems [UPI]
(Photo: Adam A. Koch )

Slap on a $1-off "Manager's Special" sticker, obviously!

(Thanks to M!)

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)