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?!

It depends. Where I worked a complaint was just passed to the every day quality staff. They'd 'investigate' - basically find a half hearted explanation.

If you report to EHO and say you've found meat / suspected rodent in a vegetarian product then EHO will want a proper response. (see apple fingernails...) that would have got it sent to the lab, as 'oh, Fred from the weekend shift thinks it's some stock powder, based on absolutely nothing' does not fly with Environmental Health. It may still be stock powder, but at least that'll be for definite, not a random guess from someone late for their tea break.

Hopefully wherever made your pie has better processes, but I wouldn't depend on it.

Thank you, this is really useful and also very interesting! Thanks for the insight!

It is a German supermarket, so there is that! 😄 I’ve worked for German companies and one thing they do tend to be is thorough on processes ;)

I've messaged environmental health and put the offending item in the freezer. I think I’ll send a bit to the supermarket and EHO and keep a sample myself.

I also called 111 earlier (bit over cautious I know) as I was slightly concerned about it being meat containing something toxic (like rat poison – assuming the rat had ingested the poison somewhere away from the factory). Hopefully it was spat out swiftly enough to avoid ingesting anything dodgy!

I’ve worked in supermarket food prep and what happens is meat and vegetarian food is prepared on the same table but it’s cleaned down with chemicals and water in between. Maybe this got left behind after a clean

Response from the supermarket:

Thanks for confirming the product. We’re sorry to hear this and can assure you that it’s not our usual standard. If you would like to return the receipt and the packaging on your next visit to store, the team will be happy to provide a full refund or replacement. We will ensure this is investigated interally with the supplier however any findings will not be shared with yourself.

Not even an offer of a voucher…! Think that’s pretty outrageous tbf

Ah that’s interesting! Definitely a less worrying scenario than poisoned rat (although obvs still not ideal!)

Thanks for sharing!

I'd wait to hear from the EHO I think OP. I don't think it's unreasonable for you to want to know what was in your mouth.

It may indeed be something from another product. Assume it's factory made not made in store? If so, rather than a table it'll be something like a massive industrial food mixer. The ones where I worked held 500kg, to give an idea of scale. They'd do an automatic cleaning cycle between different products, but sometimes bits would be left behind. Process was visual check and reclean if necessary, but sometimes things are missed.

Thanks @GrannyAchingsShepherdsHut !

That’s interesting, yes definitely on the industrial scale rather than at a table I think; it’s an own-brand frozen product for an international supermarket chain.

And I agree, I think it’s reasonable to want to know what it was! Surprised but not surprised at the dismissive response, I suppose in the majority of cases people just can’t be bothered to pursue it further which is the the best they could hope for. Bit shocked too they’re not interested in examining the sample of whatever it was. Thanks for the EHO suggestion, hopefully they will take it more seriously.

You're welcome @WhiteStripePipe hopefully they're a bit more helpful.

I've found a piece of blue packaging string in a quiche once, and machine oil in frozen hash browns. Both times sent off to and confirmed by the manufacturer. Definitely tell them and they should offer to get it analysed.

I eat mostly food from scratch too - but you can't very well do that 100% of time realistically - I dread to think what I haven't even noticed!

Interesting how different retailers have a different response - I found a bit of plastic in an item from Sainsburys and the response was several emails, a thorough inspection of the suppliers food production line, an email to conclude, and a phone call to check I was happy!

I felt very reassured they’d taken it seriously.

Don't think I said I was trying to win hearts and minds or that I wanted to educate people.

If you know about UPF then you know what to expect.

Yes, what I expect with UPFs is what I expect with foods everyone else on the Nova scale: the food to be as described with no additional ingredients or foreign bodies.

It's unlikely to be an additional ingredient. Its more likely one of the ingredients in the food that has been incorrectly processed/ broken down somewhere along the way.

Mass produced ready meals have so many stages to their manufacture and so many ingredients (some of which most people wouldn't have a clue whether or not they are 'as described', because we wouldn't even know what they look like). It seems obvious that there are likely to be occasions like this when things go a bit wrong.

If you buy UPF then sometimes you will get a dud like this, because it's not really possible to have such a large scale manufacturing process be perfect 100% of the time.

So complain and get your money back, but don't be surprised.