What was this in my food?!

[WhiteStripePipe]

Posting for traffic! And also not quite sure where else this would go.

Was just eating a supermarket oven pie – cheese and asparagus.

Halfway through put a forkful in my mouth and had to spit it out as it tasted completely acrid and disgusting. Spat it out on the plate and there’s something there that looks different to the rest of the pie – reddish brown – where the rest of the contents were green veg and cheese.

It looks a bit like meat but tasted like chemicals – bitter and acrid.

I’ve contacted them, but I’m not really bothered about a voucher. I want to know what it is and what I might have been exposed to. But I assume if I send it to them that’s the last of it I’ll hear – I can’t see why they would want to share details of any food contamination if found.

I’m TTC in case it’s in any way relevant!

What can/should you do in cases of manufactured food contaminated with some indeterminate substance?!

Sorry, it’s gross! This reddish brown stuff was not in any of the rest of the pie – it looks like meat doesn’t it? But tasted like chemicals? What is it?! 😵‍💫

No idea but it looks meaty? Contact the supermarket so they can investigate.

A lump of flavouring that's not dissolved as it should?

Send part of it off to them and keep half

Ah that’s a less worrying possibility. I’ve been concerned that the food is contaminated with poisoned vermin (not that I’d expect pest control with poison in a food production facility).

Yes, I think they will ask me to send it in but will keep some here! Wondering if there is anywhere else who would investigate impartially.

Yea I was thinking a big lump of undissolved stock. What are the ingredients?

My guess is that it's a lump of some concentrated flavouring or preservative that hasn't dispersed.

Looking more closely and prodding with a fork it does seem to have a meaty texture 🤢

I’ve put pressure on a bit of it with a fork and it’s not breaking up - it seems fibrous like meat

I was going to say undissolved stock too. What supermarket was it? I think some will take it more seriously than others.

I think you can send it to environmental health if you want to be sure it will be looked at properly. I used to deal with complaints working in a food factory and had EHO call a couple of times wanting us to investigate as they'd had a sample of something.

(btw, if you find 'fingernails' in something containing apple, it's almost certainly the membrane that's around the apple seeds!)

Haha good to know!

I might try environmental health then. But would they just refer it back to the supermarket!?

It really does look like meat. Undissolved stock would break up easily and wouldn’t have a firm texture.

Eugh. My mind would instantly wonder if it was a dead rat.

I highly doubt it will cause you (or any potential baby) any harm, but it certainly puts you off processed food!

That’s exactly what I thought! Especially as it tasted acrid like chemicals – didn’t taste like meat that was meant to be in food.

Has DEFINITELY put me off processed food. I basically have no idea whatsoever what that stuff is. 🤢 Mostly eat fresh stuff anyway but was being lazy today 😬 And in all honesty, the rest of the pie wasn’t all that tasty either

Keep the packaging...it'll have a manufacturers code on it which will tell anyone when it was made and which production. Its called a julienne code

Thanks! Will take a pic of this now

What can/should you do in cases of manufactured food contaminated with some indeterminate substance?!

Obviously complain to the place you bought it from/ the manufacturer (although they may not do much other than offer you a voucher/ refund).

Then, educate yourself and stop buying ultra-processed food.

Stop being self righteous.

I eat home cooked meals 98% of the time. I'm currently looking after my dad in hospital and I get what I can 🙄

If you want to avoid consuming 'indeterminate substances' then you have to educate yourself and avoid UPF's. That's not a judgement or self-righteous, and I couldn't care less whether or not people do - it's just a fact.

She's looking after her dad in hospital... give her a break.

Lol how to win hearts and minds.

I know all about UPFs thanks; as I mentioned above I usually eat fresh food, however on this occasion made an exception.

If you really do want to help educate people about something I’d stop being so pompous as no-one will listen to you – they’ll just think, ‘who’s this I’ll-mannered twat?’

It will be referred to the manufacturer, rather than the supermarket. Which is what you want. The supermarket will likely just give you a voucher and end up binning the sample.

And it's a Julian code (like Julian calendar) it's probably near the use by date. It'll be printed on in the production run, rather than printed when the carton is made at the printers, iyswim. A code you'll also want from the packaging is a number that starts with SC - it might be near the bar code. That's the factory number (site code), so if the supermarket has that pie made in more than one place they know which one made yours.

Thanks, this is really useful!

That's what I thought about sending the sample – I can’t see an incentive for them to share with me any findings.

Although I would have expected they would want to investigate for their own info nonetheless, to cover their backs if nothing else? And if necessary do a product recall?

Sadly this looks like an all too common case of vermin pie 🥧.

Rat or mouse usually although sometimes there is the off case of something more interesting. The rat will have been cooked if that's any consolation. Don't tell the other diners or they'll all want one !

Put it in the freezer and contact food standard people for your local council.
A few years back I had a pie that had a foreign object inside it. I called food standards and they came and collected a sample of what was found and dealt with it.
Eventally we found out it was a piece of the packaging from the seasoning they used in production.
We got a £100 cheque from the pie company after the investigation closed.