Surprise visitor from California

[MulanUSAF]

Last night I took out a tub of organic "ready-to-eat" baby spring mix out of the fridge and proceeded to fill up my large salad bowl with it. Suddenly, I felt a fluttering sensation at my finger tips and a large moth literally exploded from the tub of lettuce leaves! I was both horrified and fascinated as how this moth had been able to survive the ordeal of being packed, shipped and stored in my refrigerator for 2 days before bursting out to freedom. It also makes me think about how clean these "pre-washed" salads really are. But I guess the lettuce is at least organic enough to have not killed the moth with pesticide residue. Ugh, between chemicals or bugs, I guess bugs are the lesser of two evils. The salad was packed by Taylor Farms (bought at Sam's Club) of Salinas, California.

In case you're wondering, I threw out the salad. The moth eventually found freedom via my back door. Now I'm wondering how many other stowaways I've drowned in balsamic vinaigrette and thought the crunch was from croutons. But will I eat salad again? Yes, but I'll definitely be a lot more vigilant about picking over my stuff and probably re-washing those bagged salads.

Feel free to share your stories of unexpected surprises in your produce or other foods.

 

[dakcp2001]

eek! I found something that did not survive in a jar of tomato sauce once. It was of a rodent nature.I sent them picutres and a letter of disgust, and they sent me coupons as if I wanted to buy more. YUCK. They also stated that is was mold, and not a rodent, but unless mold has a face and a skeleton, it was a rodent.

 

[laracroft]

eek! I found something that did not survive in a jar of tomato sauce once. It was of a rodent nature.I sent them picutres and a letter of disgust, and they sent me coupons as if I wanted to buy more. YUCK. They also stated that is was mold, and not a rodent, but unless mold has a face and a skeleton, it was a rodent.

OMG, that has to be the nastiest thing I have ever heard of.

 

[themilesfamily]

Oh my lord, I would have to seek counseling after something like that. I think I'd be traumatized.

I read about someone who cracked open an egg and inside was a snake. Turns out it was a snake egg, not a chicken egg! (Could be an urban legend.)

I once poured syrup out of a bottle and it was filled with carpenter ants. (Someone had left the top off the bottle after a breakfast on our patio.)

 

[Nomi]

Oh my lord, I would have to seek counseling after something like that. I think I'd be traumatized.

I read about someone who cracked open an egg and inside was a snake. Turns out it was a snake egg, not a chicken egg! (Could be an urban legend.)

I once poured syrup out of a bottle and it was filled with carpenter ants. (Someone had left the top off the bottle after a breakfast on our patio.)

Snake eggs are soft, so probably not a snake egg.

Once we noticed that the broccoli we bought was covered in aphids. But as my dad says 'Hey, it's just extra protein!'

 

[princessmom29]

Actually, the bug carries more potentially harmful substances that any pesticide legal for use on produce would. BTW organic doesn't mean pesticide free only that the pesticides are made from plants. Many, many plants are vastly toxic. These are the ones they chose for "organic" pesticides, as they kill bugs!!

 

[Handbag Lady]

I was at a restaurant and had a salad and a lady bug was in it, covered in dressing. I calmly called the waitress over and showed her. She freaked out and I thought she was going to be ill.

She called the manager over and the manager thought maybe I said something to upset her about it? I'm not sure, but he realized I was calm and just wanted something else and he calmed her down, too.




I used to be the catering liason at a post company I worked for when I first started in the entertainment business. One place we ordered from send a giant salad. Inside of it was a whole mess of white bugs. Aphids? No idea. I called them and they came over and they got mad at me. They said it happens because their greens are so fresh. Yeah, right. You forgot to rinse and inspect the food, idiots.

 

[cteddiesgirl]

Actually, the bug carries more potentially harmful substances that any pesticide legal for use on produce would. BTW organic doesn't mean pesticide free only that the pesticides are made from plants. Many, many plants are vastly toxic. These are the ones they chose for "organic" pesticides, as they kill bugs!!

Toxic to bugs doesn't mean toxic to humans.

 

[princessmom29]

Toxic to bugs doesn't mean toxic to humans.

Actually, in most cases it does, at least to some degree. There are very few things that are toxic to bugs that are not in some degree toxic to humans. Insects are smaller, so they need a smaller dose, plus theri body systems are much simpler so the posion does its work faster. Most organic pesticides ARE toxic to humans, if they are exposed to enough. We studied many "natural" toxins in biochemistry and most of them are almost universally toxic in some degree to mammals, reptlies, amphibians, and insects. different species may be more or less succeptable, but there are advese effects in all of them.

 

[disneybound2010]

Lat summer, DS and I had(attempted to have) dinner at a new Chinese restaurant in town. I ordered noodles for him and the Shrimp in Lobster sauce for myself. I also ordered carry out to surprise my DH. Our food came out and I began cutting up the noodles for DS. As I turned back to my plate, I noticed the sauce moving...a HUGE fly broke through the surface(his thing was monstrous. Not a tiny house fly. Big sketchy thing.) I'm sitting there in shock, trying not to all over the table and a SECOND one tried to make it through the sauce...it didn't survive.

I took the food back up to the counter, threw it on the table and made it clear(LOUDLY) what was in my food. The waitress gave me the refund for the 2 meals and actually thought I wanted to wait on the carryout. I got my money back for that as well. I'm still having a hard time even looking at eggrolls without feeling queasy!

 

[Dax]

Years ago when I was a kid, my mom was shopping for banana's and she find a GIANT dead spider in the middle of a bunch...AHHH

 

[SandrA9810]

I was shopping at Publix down in Miami, it was the same one I always shopped at. When I picked up the box of pasta, there were these little black bugs crawling all over it on the inside. After seeing it for a second time, I avoided that store all together, and travelled an extra 5-10 miles to the next Publix that was much much nicer/cleaner.
I heard from some one that I worked with, that also lived in the same area, that they finally tore that store down and built a new one across the street.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

Oh man! I've been missing my little pet moth. He flew away from home a few weeks ago and must have ended up in your salad. Would you please send him back to California? He doesn't know anyone in NC and I'm sure he wouldn't be happy there!!!

 

[dislaney]

I was out to dinner one time at a place we had never been before and my dh and I both ordered the salad with our meals. They brought out the salad and right in the middle of my salad was a bug of some sort. Now I know these things can happen, but I was so freaked out at the time, that we called the waiter over and showed him and ended up leaving the restaurant. I know I didn't eat any dinner that night, but I think my dh still managed to scarf down some food when we got home.

 

[cm8]

Oh man! I've been missing my little pet moth. He flew away from home a few weeks ago and must have ended up in your salad. Would you please send him back to California? He doesn't know anyone in NC and I'm sure he wouldn't be happy there!!!

, that was too funny!!!

 

[DMRick]

Gee, thanks for sharing that . I just picked up the same salad from Sam's club and I intend to serve it at a big picnic Sunday. Luckily it's outside and they'll figure any bugs came from there, and not my salad LOL.

Grossest for me, is when I used to pick yellow plums at my inlaws farm. I knew to cut them in half and look before preparing (I was making jam), but my smart aleck brother grabbed a bunch and went to watch TV, while I was out of the room. This batch was terrible..tons and tons of little yellow worms that were hard to see. My brother was just tossing them in his mouth and pulling out the pit, and laughed at me, because I washed them, and he grabbed them and ran (so to speak). I got great pleasure in showing him what I found in them. I don't think he ever ate plums again.

 

[hugApug]

Last night I took out a tub of organic "ready-to-eat" baby spring mix out of the fridge and proceeded to fill up my large salad bowl with it. Suddenly, I felt a fluttering sensation at my finger tips and a large moth literally exploded from the tub of lettuce leaves! I was both horrified and fascinated as how this moth had been able to survive the ordeal of being packed, shipped and stored in my refrigerator for 2 days before bursting out to freedom. It also makes me think about how clean these "pre-washed" salads really are. But I guess the lettuce is at least organic enough to have not killed the moth with pesticide residue. Ugh, between chemicals or bugs, I guess bugs are the lesser of two evils. The salad was packed by Taylor Farms (bought at Sam's Club) of Salinas, California.

In case you're wondering, I threw out the salad. The moth eventually found freedom via my back door. Now I'm wondering how many other stowaways I've drowned in balsamic vinaigrette and thought the crunch was from croutons. But will I eat salad again? Yes, but I'll definitely be a lot more vigilant about picking over my stuff and probably re-washing those bagged salads.

Feel free to share your stories of unexpected surprises in your produce or other foods.

Well, NC is closer to WDW than California is....so, I don't blame the moth

JK, it's truly horrific to find live, or dead, bugs in our food... unfortunately, it's unavoidable. After working in grocery in high school, and hearing stories from my DBF who is a grocery store manager...these stories shared by fellow Dis'ers don't even compare to the grossness that occurs in the back room of grocery stores. Let's just say grocery stores attract allllll types of bugs and rodents. I guess what you don't see won't hurt you?

 

[autumnpalm]

I should never have opened this thread, but I've read all the replies in fascination and disgust.

I've only found a bug in my salad once, it was a beetle but the kicker was- it was only HALF of the beetle. I'm guessing when the lettuce was chopped up the beetle was too. I split the salad with a friend so we both found comfort in thinking the other person had eaten half of the beetle.

We did notify the waitress who just kind of shrugged and then took the salad off the bill. It seemed like it was something that happened every day. Let's just say we haven't gone back there.

Pity, beetle or no beetle- they made a GOOD Greek salad!

 

[cteddiesgirl]

Well, NC is closer to WDW than California is....so, I don't blame the moth

JK, it's truly horrific to find live, or dead, bugs in our food... unfortunately, it's unavoidable. After working in grocery in high school, and hearing stories from my DBF who is a grocery store manager...these stories shared by fellow Dis'ers don't even compare to the grossness that occurs in the back room of grocery stores. Let's just say grocery stores attract allllll types of bugs and rodents. I guess what you don't see won't hurt you?

Which is why if you possibly can, wash everything before eating!

 

[MulanUSAF]

Oh man! I've been missing my little pet moth. He flew away from home a few weeks ago and must have ended up in your salad. Would you please send him back to California? He doesn't know anyone in NC and I'm sure he wouldn't be happy there!!!

He is making friends with all the twinkling fireflies in my backyard. I think he'll be just fine here in NC. However, my bunny was NOT happy that he was nomming the salad. Because I threw it all out, my bun bun did not get any lettuce either. Btw, your bunny in the profile pic looks just like my dearly beloved Dottie who's now nibbling clovers in the big meadow across the rainbow bridge.