Rodent head in your green beans? No problem, canner says - it's 'commercially sterile' (Wal-Mart)

[Omaha Steve]

Source: The Salt Lake Tribune

A rodent head found by a Lehi woman in a can of green beans would be safe to eat, the company's spokesman said Thursday. But Marianne Watson, the woman who found the head in the can bought from a Wal-Mart store, rejected a $100 settlement that Allen Canning offered her if she signed a liability release.

"There's no way that product could have hurt her," Allen Canning spokesman James Phillips said in a telephone interview. "This rodent was rendered commercially sterile. We cook each can individually at a temperature up to 265 degrees."


Marianne Watson of Lehu, UT had quite a surprise when she opened a can of Allen's Cut Green Beans and poured it into a pot to cook. She found a rodent head in the beans. (Danny Chan La/The Salt Lake Tribune )


Even so, Phillips said the rat head wouldn't be welcome at his home. "I'd hate to even think about seeing the same thing on my kitchen table."

Watson bought the can from the American Fork Wal-Mart store on Sept. 28. On Sunday, when she opened the can to prepare lunch for her family, she found the rodent head.

Read more: http://www.sltrib.com//ci_7089145?IADID=Search-www.sltrib.com-www.sltrib.com

[Poiuyt]

1. Just a little extra protein

Who doesn't like to eat rat heads?

[Sam Ervin jret]

28. Woooo, thank god, and I was so worried. Protein in the Public Interest

Clarence Thomas said I could use the anagram PPUBs

Protein in the PUBlic intereSt

[hunter]

38. Usually you have to pay extra for the rodent head beans.

Somebody mislabled the cans headed for export, but look, this woman is the only one who complained. The other customers who got rodent head beans must have been quite pleased!

[Radio_Lady]

49. LOL! That's the best reply of the month! But, it's very early in the month!

I once got a piece of equipment (large rubber roller) included with my sliced peaches.

I took the can back to the store and received a whole case of peaches, delivered by the manager to my home the next week. They were mortified and said that they try very hard to avoid this happening. I eventually got a letter from their chief of manufacturing saying he was glad I returned them. They were able to trace the can to the actual machine that spit out the roller.

But, of course, that was back in the 1980s, when companies had more integrity about what they were producing.

A sterilized rodent head? Crap, that would freak me out totally...

[Hydra]

2. Glad to see regulations being observed

:sarcasm:

[Joe Bacon]

69. And it's another reason to go shopping at Costco!

Better prices and quality!

http://www.costco.com

[hedgehog]

3. These things happen.

Having worked a product packing line, I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often. Where do you think low food prices come from?

[customerserviceguy]

34. Ick

I thought all I had to beware of at Mal-Wart was falling prices...

[SKKY]

73. Yep! I worked at Del Monte for about 3 months a long time ago...

...and used to see huge, capibara-sized rats (Ok, a bit exaggerated but not much) swimming in the pickle
vats. I always wondered by things like this didn't happen more often.

[KamaAina]

4. Truth in labeling

the product was no longer vegetarian :evilgrin:

[Poiuyt]

5. "Love to eat them mousies..."

[Hekate]

32. I love that Kliban Kitty and his song! If I had two dead rats, I'd give you one.

:rofl:

Hekate

[Nostradammit]

43. Used to have that on a beach towel

My favorite beach towel evah!

Re: rats -

I actually get a little disappointed if there aren't any rat's heads in my beans.

Lady should consider herself blessed.

[daleo]

6. It's like that Monty Python sketch

Woman: Well there's rat cake ... rat sorbet... rat pudding... or strawberry tart.
Man: Strawberry tart?!
Woman: Well it's got some rat in it.
Man: How much?
Woman: Three, rather a lot really.
Man: ... well, I'll have a slice without so much rat in it. -from Dead Bishop sketch

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Monty_Python's_Flying_Circus

[yellowcanine]

23. What, no eye of newt? or dead parrot pining for the fiords?

[Igel]

7. Doesn't this mean there's another can out there with the

mouse's ass in it?

[IntravenousDemilo]

8. Sterile, bah! Sterility is entirely beside the point!

Next time you find a dead mouse, chop off its head and keep it in the freezer. When you've collected enough mouse heads, mail them to Mr Phillips with a note: "Oh, don't worry, James, they're not going to kill you."

[kestrel91316]

9. Instead of pork 'n' beans, we have a new taste treat:

MOUSE 'N' BEANS

[lazyriver]

10. Where oh where is the rest of the rodent?

And many of my family and friends wonder why I will only shop locally for my food or grow it myself. "But everything's so much cheaper at Wal Mart. You're wasting money at those farmer's markets", my mother-in-law is fond of saying to me. Enjoy this link ma!

[yellowcanine]

19. Good question that is likely being asked by other buyers of that brand of canned beans.

[lumpy]

66. Those beans look nasty like there's other stuff in there

besides the rat head. Ugly Eweeeeeee

[Megahurtz]

11. Eeeeeew!

Gross!

[mikeytherat]

12. "There's no way that product could have hurt her"

"There's no way that product could have hurt her," Allen Canning spokesman James Phillips said in a telephone interview. "This rodent was rendered commercially sterile. We cook each can individually at a temperature up to 265 degrees."

Nope. No choking hazard here. Nosiree, Bob. Why everyone can swallow rodent heads safely. It's a known, scientific fact.

mikey_the_rat

[yellowcanine]

24. Mr. Phillips is obviously a linear thinker. Can only keep think of one possible hazard at a time.

In this case pathogenic bacteria.

[mikeytherat]

36. We can hand it to the folks at Campbell's, though - they provide examples:

Campbell Soup Co. on Thursday announced a voluntary recall of more than 72,000 cans of a variety of its Chunky soup because they may contain pieces of hard plastic that present a choking hazard and could cause injury if swallowed.

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8S2OCV02.htm

Thanks, Campbell's; I appreciate the additional info, but "contains pieces of hard plastic" says it all for me.

mikey_the_rat

[SeattleVet]

13. Hey! It could have been worse...

Imagine the outcry had this can come from China.

[yellowcanine]

20. That's right. Or if lead solder had been used to seal the lid.

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

64. I'm surprised it didn't.

[damntexdem]

14. But what if she's a vegetarian?

But I know why it's only the rat's head -- they keep the rat's ass as their spokesperson.

[yellowcanine]

21. You owe me a new keyboard! Rat's ass indeed.

[Mz Pip]

15. Just a bit of

extra protein. No biggie. :eyes:

Mz Pip
:dem:

[Neshanic]

16. Eat your mouse head! Don't you know there are kids in China ...

[yellowcanine]

22. Mouse head? Has that been established? Was it officially identified as a mouse head?

[Renew Deal]

55. Read the story

:shrug:

[Blue Diadem]

17. Allen's produces a lot of canned products under other popular names

We get the Allen brand of green beans at our local small town grocer. :scared:

Here's the website if you'd like to see what else Allen's produces.

http://www.allencanning.com/

This really bothers me..our family loves their Italian Green beans..especially the seasoned ones. Now I find out this happened before except it was an amphibian leg?? WTF?

[yellowcanine]

25. Well if you buy the seasoned ones at least the rat's ass will be tasty.

[Blue Diadem]

31. ewwww...

OH GOSH, that end of the mouse has to be somewhere doesn't it? Makes me wonder what happened to the other legs and body of the amphibian. :puke:

[lumpy]

67. That does it. Only fresh green beans. More vitamins anyway.

Feel like vomiting. Ugh

[yellowcanine]

18. "There's no way that product could have hurt her," Allen Canning spokesman James Phillips said

Allen Canning might want to think about getting a new spokesperson. This guy isn't helping their image much.

[MadinMo]

26. Oh gag!

I buy the Allen's brand of canned goods nearly all of the time. It will be a long time before I buy any more!

[chill_wind]

27. Gaah! Got to watch the green beans. I had a can with a grasshopper once.

Some years ago. Nice and green and stringy. I *almost did not see it.* Ah, but it was a STERILE grasshopper, see.

Appalled, I contacted the canning company (was not a Walmart purchase, a neighborhood grocery store) and returned the specimen. Some weeks later, they send me a handful of free coupons. :-/

Just heard a CNN quickie news clip yesterday about a man who had recently purchased (chocolate covered, I think) peanuts and almost popped one in his mouth before he noticed maggots emerging. He got his money back. That was it. Again, Walmart, if I'm remembering.

[0rganism]

29. so commercially sterile, it's practically vegan!

Phillips added, "The weight ratio of vegetable matter to rodent parts was well over 100 to 1. That's well within the FDA's standards for vegetarian fare, and it's certified organic too!"

[puffymuffins]

30. She should have read the nutritional label:

Green beans, water, sodium, EDTA, and rat head.

[pinniped]

33. Bubonic Plague in a can

.

[customerserviceguy]

35. I gotta feeling

that this company's bank account is going to be 'commercially sterile' by the time a jury is through with them...

[hedgehog]

37. Oh please - am I the only one on this entire thread who has ever worked

in a food factory or cannery?

Mouse in a a can: a mechanical harvester goes through the fields and gathers up the beans, some leaves, some dirt , some stones and the occasional mouse or frog. The animal is probably killed and cut apart in the process. The beans are run across screens to removed the dirt and rocks. They are washed and put on a conveyor belt and run past a line of people who pick out the bad beans and any other debris that they see. This is a mouse that no one saw. Maybe the line was running too fast that day, maybe someone just happened to look away at the wrong time. It happens. The manager was a little blase about it, but believe me, it's not the first mouse he's ever seen. His concern is that the beans are washed and packed so no one gets botulism or any other bacteria.

Plastic in the can: Some piece of equipment (Probably a chute) cracked and fell into the soup. When Campbell's was made aware of the problem, they took the code numbers to figure out when and where the soup was packed. They checked over all the equipment to find out where the plastic came from, then figured out how much plastic had fallen into the soup. They recalled all the soup that could possibly have any plastic in it.


Go to your nearest supermarket. Walk up and down the aisle and look at all the boxes and all the cans and all the frozen foods. Now ask yourself how much food goes through that one supermarket in a year. Now think of all the supermarkets in your city, in your state , in the nation. This incident is in the news because it's unusual. That's a good indication that most packers are pretty good at getting the contaminants out.

[leQ]

57. sounds like you worked in a food factory. so understanding... i'll bet the judge who gets this

case will feel the same way.

[hedgehog]

60. I 'm not certain of the level of sarcasm here, but every food plant

I've ever been in has an agressive program of rodent control. That mouse came in with the beans and was never seen.

Now, if you want to talk about the speed-up, lack of inspection and sh*t in the meat at the average slaughterhouse, I'm right there with you!

[Release The Hounds]

39. Ozzy Osbourne Beans. nt

[Yavapai]

40. They may not give a rat's ass,

But they sell em! Of course, at the Great-Wall-of-China-Mart they are cheaper ALWAYS !

[fortyfeetunder]

41. Ratatouille fixins?

:evilgrin:

[prole_for_peace]

42. first thought i have- "poor mousie"

then second thought "ewwwwww"

[alittlelark]

44. surreal....WOW.

I have no words at the present time.

[emsimon33]

45. Definitely not vegan!!!!!

[HughMoran]

46. Puke

:puke:

[progressoid]

47. Mmmmmm, rodent head.

[southerncrone]

48. Why we grow our own (GB's that is!) . Haven't bought a can of beans in over 25 yrs!

:)

[Hepburn]

50. So....are the rat TURDS also commercially sterile?

:puke:

Geeeeeeeez, dose someone need to point out to this guy that where there are rodents, there are rodent TURDS!?!?!?!?!?

[ohio2007]

51. You don't want to eat chocolate bars if that story scares you.

there is a certain acceptable percentage of insect parts that go into making a Hershey bar.
And with the factories opening up shop in Mexico............

[Bjorn Against]

52. If these "sterile" rodent heads are so safe to eat...

I really suggest we serve that rodent head to the company spokesperson so he can eat it for us in front of the cameras.

Hey if he doesn't think there is anything wrong with eating rodent heads as long as they have been "sterilized" then I am sure he won't have any problem chewing it up on national television now will he?

[hootinholler]

53. Wow, think of the saving in ham to flavor them!

:puke:

-Hoot

[Trillo]

54. Poor little mousie ...

While everyone is up in arms about the mouse's head getting into their food, don't forget to take a moment of silence to bless its passing.

[leQ]

56. makes ya wonder... where's the rest of his (the rodent's) body? (n/t)

[dysfunctional press]

63. spread out among other cans would be the obvious answer...

it will probably be a popular/unpopular item at a lot of thanksgiving food drives this year.

[Exultant Democracy]

58. Lession to woman, don't buy food at walmart. Try not to buy anything there.

[Blue Diadem]

59. Not defending walmart but Allen's isn't just a walmart supplier.

I get the brand from the local small town grocery store.

[Stewie]

76. Well Wal-Mart really isn't at fault here.

Whoever canned the beans sold them to different markets. Wal-Mart can't tell what's inside.

For all we know, the rest of that mouse is in cans over at CostCo.

[rayofreason]

61. Rats only are good for flavoring black beans.

Not green beans. For green beans use iguanas.

[burrowowl]

62. Not for vegetarians or vegans

you can't rely on canned veggies.

[Blue_Tires]

65. puketastic....

food standards continue to turn back the clock to circa 1910 Chicago's sausage industry

[Le Taz Hot]

68. THIS is why I do all my own canning.

I have control over the ingredients and the processing. Nothing goes in those jars but produce, a little Kosher salt and filtered water.

[knitter4democracy]

70. Same here. Doing more next year.

More control over salt and taste, too.

[JitterbugPerfume]

71. and people wonder why

I home can and freeze everything I can lay my hands on!

Damn that is disgusting!

[leftofthedial]

72. we've had a rat's ass in the white house for seven years

and the whole damned country has gone to hell.

[Sabriel]

74. Didn't she read the small print?

"For Owl Consumption Only"

[Javaman]

75. China-Mart trash heaps coming to a community near you!

They are safe! they are clean! And we only throw out the best garbage!

Even though they are running freely, the rats, roaches and mice are of the highest quality!

Check out old plump junior over there! He could easily feed a family of 5!

We have successfully provided trash heaps in many 3rd world nations!! We now feed millions with our discards!

China-Mart, out to feed the world one trash barrel at at time!

[TexasBushwhacker]

77. Well I think Allen's will find little demand for steril rat heads

The dumb fucks should have ponied up a reasonable settlement to keep it quiet. Now that everyone knows about it, NO ONE WILL BUY THEIR BRANDS!!!! Just the thought of finding rodent parts .... EEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWW!!!!

BTW, brands canned by Allens include:

Butterfield
East Texas Fair
Freshlike (fresh like rat heads!)
Popeye Spinach
Princella Sweet Potatoes
Royal Prince Sweet Potatoes
Sugary Sam Sweet Potatoes
Sunshine
Trappeys
Veg*All
Wagon Master