One of the oft-stated consumer worries post-Katrina—besides the trepidation of a regional shortage in poor, underserved New Orleanians to clean up the beads and offal of exploded Mardi Gras tourists—was a fear that coffee prices would spike. A large portion of our coffee enters the country through New Orleans, which is why companies like Folgers put over half of their coffee production plants in the city.

But to paraphrase the great economist Milt Friedman, when your swamp-based coffee production facilities flood, sometimes you’re gonna get a few turtles. That’s why The Consumerist was not surprised that Marjorie Morris found a dead baby turtle in her can of Folgers’ coffee.

After removing what looked like a block of condensed coffee, Morris shook off the coffee grains and discovered a dead baby turtle about two inches in diameter.

Sadly, it looks like a snapper, which is one of our favorite kinds of turtles. If The Consumerist needed a mascot, this desiccated reptile would surely be it.

Morris is not planning on suing Folgers, despite the initial response she receive from the company.

“(The customer service representative) tried to pass it off as though it’s nothing unusual. … It seemed like they had similar things happen (before),” she said.

What’s the strangest thing have you found in your retail products?

Turtle soup, sure. But turtle coffee? [Press-Citizen via BoingBoing]

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