If you have a weak stomach, you will need to prepare yourself for this one. There have been several incidents where gross things have been discovered in customers’ fast food purchases. Some of these include blood found in a Taco Bell meal, a fried chicken head discovered in a box of McDonald’s McNuggets, a syringe found in a Burger King breakfast sandwich, human skin found in an Arby’s sandwich, and fried mice in a batch of Popeye’s Fried Chicken. When these types of incidents happen at fast food restaurants it’s pretty easy to simply ban that restaurant and stop going there, but what happens if you find something in a sealed item that you purchased at a store?
Troy Hawkins found this out the hard way. After purchasing a jar of redcurrant jelly from a Northamptonshire branch of Co-op, he discovered something quite appalling. After he got home from the store, he decided to open the jar of jelly and dig in, but he was quickly stopped in his tracks when he saw what appeared to be a used condom.
As to be expected, Hawkins was quite alarmed and immediately shared his nasty find on his Facebook page. Luckily the Co-op got wind of the post and the complaint and addressed it right away, later determining that the mysterious material was actually a piece of solidified white foam, which is often created as a result of boiling fruit in a high sugar solution. Evidently, this happens quite often with jams and jellies, however; it doesn’t usually look so “condom-like.”
“This foaming is usually controlled by an anti-foaming agent which is added to the product during the manufacturing process. On this occasion it appears that the anti-foaming agent did not adequately control the foam,” said a representative of the Co-op. “As the jar passed along the production line the movement of the jar rolled and folded the foam layer in a way that resembled a condom.
In response to Hawkins public post, the Co-op was quick to share the following…
“We have treated this very seriously indeed and after full analysis, we can assure you this was not a condom.”
They also contacted Hawkins and apologized profusely and offered him a twenty-pound voucher, however; that didn’t keep him and several commenters quiet.
One commenter shared the following response to Hawkins’ post, which could end up losing customers for the Co-op in the long run…
“Until you declare that you’ve found and disciplined the appropriate parties as well as changed the way you process this type of food, I will never so much as walk past another Co-op.”
And while this was certainly a repugnant thing for a customer to have to experience, we can be sure that Hawkins will be extra cautious when purchasing food items in the future and he will analyze those items thoroughly before putting them in his mouth. The Co-op handled the situation well and not only addressed the problem, but explained why and how this type of thing happens.
Source:
awm.com
