# Packaged Food Anomolies. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 25, 2010, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/packaged-food-anomolies/530425 "2010-02-25T18:58:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/packaged-food-anomolies/530425/21 "2010-02-28T04:05:34Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Oh, I’ve gotten fortune cookies with no fortunes. It’s a bleak feeling. That happened to me for the first time this past Friday:eek:! ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/packaged-food-anomolies/530425/22 "2010-02-28T05:25:46Z")
> [@Scarlett67](#): > > On our wedding night, we went to buy a Coke with the last of our change from the machine down the hall at the hotel. An ice-cold Coke sounded pretty good while we were watching a movie in our room. (Hey, we needed to unwind after a long day – the really fun stuff came later. 😃 ) So we crack the Coke in the darkened room and . . . WTF? This Coke tastes weird, and is there something sticking out of it?? Lights, please . . . > > It was one of those “win a dollar” promotional cans that were out at the time (1990). So we had a wet dollar bill, and a can full of WATER, and no change to buy another one (the machine didn’t take bills). > > That was a pisser. We kept the can, though. > > Yeah, I know, not really an anomaly, but a semi-amusing story, anyway. I had a similar incident. I was a kid on vacation in Chicago, and desperate for a drink in the middle of the night, so I scrounged up 75 cents to hit the overpriced hotel vending machine. Got my can, opened it, and a rolled up piece of paper popped out (same promotion as yours, though my can was working properly, so the paper was dry). It turned out to be a coupon for a case of Coke; an okay prize, but when you’re thirsty, out of change, in the middle of a strange city in the middle of the night with no nearby stores at which to redeem the coupon… kinda sucked. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/packaged-food-anomolies/530425/23 "2010-02-28T15:22:12Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Not really a specific food anomaly, but I worked at Safeway for 12 years or so and over that span I noticed that the main selling point of 70-80% of all the packaged food products was one or a combination of either chocolate, cheese, bacon, or frosting. Next time you find yourself at the supermarket walk up and down the aisles and look at all the products. Be it crackers, Pop Tarts, cereal, soup, all manner of snacks, even chocolate, cheese, or frosting, you will notice that you can buy a variation of almost any kind of food featuring one or more of those 4 things. I always thought that was a little weird. That is SO true! And why are 98% of candy bars chocolate and peanut butter??? Cheese, bacon, chocolate, and frosting - the four main food groups found on every menu at every Chili’s, Applebees, and Ruby Tuesdays. Bacon and cheese on everything, and a slab of ‘meh’ chocolate cake for dessert, memorable only for its size. (And how much salt do they put in their food, anyway? I’m chugging a gallon of ice water all night after dining out at one of these fine establishments. :mad:) Another topic, another thread, but your post reminded me of those awful restaurants. ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/packaged-food-anomolies/530425/24 "2010-03-01T05:06:22Z")
I used to love getting mutant Chef Boyardee ravioli. They wouldn’t contain the filling like normal ravioli, but a thick, multi-folded wad of pasta. Externally, they looked the same, so you couldn’t pick them out unless you poked at it (they were firmer) or bit into it. They must’ve fixed the production line issue that led to this flaw, because I haven’t had a mutant ravioli in forever. ---
**Author:** ![MarkofT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@MarkofT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarkofT)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/packaged-food-anomolies/530425/25 "2010-03-01T05:44:25Z")
I bought a large bag of a Mexican candy that have chili powder inside. Each candy is individually wrapped. Appearently this one machine had a hiccup and there is no candy in a perfectly sealed package. When people come by my desk looking for candy or snacks I’ll offer the sealed empty package as a “diet candy”. It usually takes them a couple minutes to figure out the diet part of the joke. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/packaged-food-anomolies/530425/26 "2010-03-01T05:57:39Z")
> [@Enright3](#): > > Snacks were provided for us today in a staff meeting. I opened a 6-pack of Oreos to enjoy with a fresh cup of coffee. As I pulled the first cookie out of the package I noticed something horribly wrong. :eek: The top of the cookie was smooth! There was no tell-tale Nabisco relief mark on the cookie. I separated the cookie to give it further inspection and discovered that cookie was assembled with one of the cookies upside-down; with the Nabisco relief facing the white cream center! > > I thought about keeping it but decided it was too delicious for that. Yummy. > > So do any of you have any packaging anomolies to report on? At one time Oreos had a promo where there was one “special” cookie in the bag. I don’t remember what the special was, but when I opened the bag we bought, I thought I must have won the jackpot… every cookie in the bag was inside out! ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/packaged-food-anomolies/530425/27 "2010-03-01T06:05:50Z")
When I worked at an Old Dutch potato chip factory, we regularly got calls from people who had found a nut or bolt in a package of chips. (The bags are filled by machines which vibrate, to fill the bags while not breaking the chips. Despite anti-loosening hardware, this vibration periodically loosens a nut or bolt on the machine, and they can sometimes fall into the bag. The machines were steam cleaned every day, so these nuts would be clean, but still not what you expect in a bag of chips.) Our response was to ask them to mail us the nut or bolt, along with the markings on the bag that told us when & where it was made. Then we sent them an apology letter, with a free coupon good for 2-3 times as many chips as they has purchased. We also assured them over the phone that the chips were safe to eat – but most people told us they had already done that! ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f08c70/32.png) [@Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Brother_Walker)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/packaged-food-anomolies/530425/28 "2010-03-02T04:44:21Z")
First: I found a small shop outside the big city in Germany that sold “seconds” of gummi bears. Factory defects that were all frankengummi shaped that didn’t pass quality control. Fun to eat frankengummis. Second: I used to buy 30 packs of beer (best buy for your buck). Sometimes the truckers/loaders/clerks whoever would tape up boxes that split open during transit. I took an empty unopened beer can back to the store once and the guys gave me a free one (only because I go there like a second home, so they know me). Third: One of the bars that my friends and I frequent has been going downhill recently, and almost nobody wants to go hang out there anymore. Except for the usually designated driver. Last time I was there, I was hungry and scarfed down one of their \*usually \*great half-pound burgers. I was about 75% done and put the burger back on the plate to get a drink. My buddy next to me says “what’s that on your plate?” and points. I look down and a baby roach (approx. 2 mm in length) crawls out of my burger and off my plate. Since I saw it crawl out of my burger, I conclude that this was not the bug my buddy saw. And yeah, I know that he \*probably not \*the only one. I’ll never go back there again. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/packaged-food-anomolies/530425/29 "2010-03-02T07:56:14Z")
A friend of mine once got a bottle of Cameroonian beer (“Castel” for those of you heading out that way) that came with a cockroach entombed inside. The real question- beer was expensive, maybe a day’s wages for a laborer, or a quarter of a day’s wages for a professional. Do you think he drank it anyway? ---
**Author:** ![Serenata67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/serenata67/32/10646_2.png) [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/packaged-food-anomolies/530425/30 "2010-03-02T13:20:03Z")
I once found a bloodied band-aid in a bag of store-brand cheese poofs. I used to eat cheese poofs all the time… and now I can barely stomach a handful of them. ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/packaged-food-anomolies/530425/31 "2010-03-02T13:30:01Z")
> [@dwyr](#): > > Earlier tonight I had a Kit Kat bar that only had about 2/3 of its length filled by the regular crispy wafer layers and the remaining bit was solid chocolate. How could you tell? Did you nibble it? Don’t you just bite the bar in half and gobble it up like a normal person? 😛 When I was a kid my mom opened a can of Libby’s corn niblets that contained 2 inch worms. Maybe they like corn. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/packaged-food-anomolies/530425/32 "2010-03-02T15:00:10Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Oh, I’ve gotten fortune cookies with no fortunes. It’s a bleak feeling. > [@Enright3](#): > > That happened to me for the first time this past Friday:eek:! A few months ago I cracked open a fortune cookie, expecting to find the usual communiqué inside. What I apparently got instead was a blank strip of paper. ☹ However, after closer inspection, I found that it was really two fortunes facing each other! I got two for the price of one! ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/packaged-food-anomolies/530425/33 "2010-03-02T16:18:33Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > A friend of mine once got a bottle of Cameroonian beer (“Castel” for those of you heading out that way) that came with a cockroach entombed inside. > > The real question- beer was expensive, maybe a day’s wages for a laborer, or a quarter of a day’s wages for a professional. Do you think he drank it anyway? A day’s wages? Hell, yeah! Reading this always reminds me of an employee the Coke or Pepsi company kept on hand (supposedly) to send out to investigate bottles with bugs or mice inside. The furious customer would bring out the bottle, saying, ‘look! look at that! A dead mouse inside! What are you going to do about it?’ And this employee would take the bottle and drink it down, and say ‘tastes a little musty, yeah. Here’s a coupon for a free bottle’ and leave. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/packaged-food-anomolies/530425/34 "2010-03-02T16:25:12Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Oh, I’ve gotten fortune cookies with no fortunes. It’s a bleak feeling. We call that “the death cookie”. Although I got one once, and I’m still here. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/packaged-food-anomolies/530425/35 "2010-03-02T16:35:19Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > We call that “the death cookie”. Although I got one once, and I’m still here. When you least expect it… expect it! \ ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/packaged-food-anomolies/530425/36 "2010-03-02T16:46:45Z")
I used to babysit for a family where the baby was just starting to go through that phase where they want to do whatever Mommy/Daddy/BigBrother were doing. The family drank a decent amount of Caffeine-Free Dr. Pepper, and naturally the baby was constantly reaching for the shiny can, wanting to “drink” whatever the Big People were drinking. Imagine the family’s relief when they found an empty-but-sealed can. That thing was like gold to that family; it was the only thing that would satisfy Baby when she wanted to “participate” with the others. I swear they would probably have paid double-price to get one or two more cans like that for her. ---
**Author:** ![Audrey\_Levins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Audrey\_Levins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Audrey_Levins)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/packaged-food-anomolies/530425/37 "2010-03-02T18:15:29Z")
I found a golf-ball-sized chunk of Nilla wafer dough at the bottom of a box of them; it was still slightly malleable actually. Had the consistency of old Play-Doh. Didn’t stop me from eating the properly-baked Nillas. Maybe it should’ve? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![beatlejuice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a8b319/32.png) [@beatlejuice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beatlejuice)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2010, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/packaged-food-anomolies/530425/38 "2010-03-05T19:48:28Z")
My brother was the provider of such anomolies when he worked in the produce section of the local supermarket. He would slice with a razor a long thin line in green peppers and slide paper fortunes inside …like a cookie. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/packaged-food-anomolies/530425.md?page=1)