We can’t say for sure, but it’s a fair guess that the anxious parent who headed straight to the emergency department after finding a dollop of slimy mold in her daughter’s juice box is not a regular Consumerist reader. If she were, she would know that terrifying mold blobs are a regular occurrence in packaged food, especially juice.

Just the tiniest puncture in a juice box can lead to beautiful balls of mold, thanks to a dark environment filled with sugar and lacking preservatives. As Kraft, makers of Capri Sun, told us all after an icky mold incident in 2010:

Mold that forms on food and beverages is usually a common mold. It’s generally much like common bread mold, though it may look different depending on where it forms. And yes, it can be ugly, gross and totally unappealing. It would be great if foods stayed fresh forever. But the basic laws of science and nature dictate that most foods eventually spoil and get moldy.

Here’s what that mold thing looked like, to refresh your memory:

Earlier this year, a Reddit poster claimed to have found what looks like a dollop of spanakopita in a Minute Maid orange juice container. It too was just mold, and her young siblings kept barfing but were mostly unharmed.

Why I Stopped Buying Juice Boxes (The picture will gross you out…) [Children’s MD] (Thanks, Amanda!)

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