ChatterBank1 min ago
foreign objects in food
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If i find a foreign object in my food should i return the object and keep photos or send photos and keep the object?
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For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.You should return the whole package - food and object. They sometimes want to do scientific tests on the object to check that it was really in the food in the first place (i.e. when it was cooked) and that the customer hasn't just put it in afterwards in an attempt to get compensation. If you don't trust them, take photos and get friend to be independent witnesses to the item that you have found (just in case the shop might "lose" the item).
I once found a square of glass (similar to when a windscreen or toughened glass shatters) in a belgian bun from the bakery section of a well-known supermarket. In their reply to my complaint they insisted that they had researched it and that it can't possibly have come from their cake, because there was no glass like it near their kitchens. But it did. I actually bit a piece of the cake off that had the glass in it, and had the piece of glass in my mouth. But at the end of the day how can you prove that you are not lying... I didn't want anything out of them, but an apology would have been nice. I was so angry because I cut my mouth, and what if a Mum gave the cake to their toddler.... That was 10 years ago, and I've never shopped there since - don't think they've noticed though :)
Don't return the object under any circumstances, until you are happy with their response. I used to work for a food company, and in any case like this, the priority was to obtain the item from the customer, because without it they could not take any independent action. Advise them that it is available for inspection at your house. By the way, if it is something that is easily explained eg a bone in a tinned meat, or a piece of wood in a vegetable pack, then don't get too upset because that is not so bad. Any natural type material is difficult to eliminate. If it is metal or glass, that is very serious. Any food should be metal detected before sealing, and glass is just taboo anywhere near a food plant. Do not deal direct with the manufacturer. Do everything via the store where you bought it.
Once at the big grocers (before they got so big) a customer brought an opened can that he found a grasshopper in! The owner talked to him, saw the thing, thought to himself how bad this would be for business, and in an instant of pure maniacal panic as soon as the gentleman turned his head to becon to othe store personell and customers the owner grabbed the thing and ate it!!! He had a reputation to preserve and now they are the biggest chain around here. So you know he proceeded to pretend that he didn't know what the man was talking about and made a fool of him. Don't trust anyone! Take a picture and perhaps xerox the receipt. What did you find in your food anyway, do tell!