Customers at a Fazoli’s restaurant near Indianapolis got a bit of unexpected protein in their food, as several people claimed there were spider mites crawling around in their dishes and elsewhere in the restaurant.

FOX 59 says customers complained about the presence of the pests, prompting an impending visit from the health inspector.

“My friend sitting across the table said, ‘There’s something on your plate,'” one customer recalled. “I stared at my food, at the lasagna, and my sauce was moving!”

She and her co-workers complained to both the general manager and directly to the Board of Health.

“It’s disturbing and it’s against the food code,” said John Althardt, spokesman for the Marion County Health Department. He adds that a health inspector is set to visit, but that bugs deciding to run around wherever they want is common this time of year.

“Often times it’s because there’s landscaping work occurring,” explained Althardt. “It may be weather conditions like heavy rain often times will cause insects to push out of the ground and come into the facilities.”

The manager of the spider mite-afflicted location agrees, saying that the mites are coming from the landscaping due to the weed killer being used. They hide out in the atrium of the building to get away from the stuff. He adds that no mites have made their way into the kitchen.

The woman with the mites in her lasagna ain’t buying it, however.

“I most definitely think they were they were there the entire time,” said. “I was really disgusted, really disgusted. And I was angry. And it almost felt like I had gone and paid almost $13 to eat bugs.”

*Thanks for the tip, Adam!

Fazoli’s customers find spider mites crawling in food, dining room [FOX 59]

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