Strange Items in Your Food

These days, it's not unusual to find the strangest things in your food, whether it's from the supermarket, a farmer's market, at a fast food chain, or even a more upscale restaurant. With an ever-increasing population, and mass food production to meet the growing nutritiional needs of people in just about every country around the world, there is bound to be a certain degree of errors, be it human or mechanical, when it comes to food packaging and preparation. Some of it, of course, might be attributed to neglegence and oversight in a rush to get the product to the consumer, and in obtaining the best dollar for that product in the quickest amount of time. Mistakes will obviously be the result.

We do often rely solely on what we can purchase in the supermarkets and restaurants for all our food requirements. After all, we can't all plant our own vegetable gardens to have fresh vegetables daily. And even if we could, there is just no possible way that many of us would benefit from fresh food year round. We can't all live near the ocean to get our daily requirements of omega fats from fresh fish. We can't all be so fortunate as to live in tropical areas where we can just go out into the yard to pick our own fruit for an ample supply of vitamin C.

For most people, either you're going to have one or the other, depending upon where you live, but rarely will we get ALL of our required daily nutrients from a local source. This is why we must rely on our local supermarkets, who import various food supplies from around the world for our consumption. We can only hope that what we ARE purchasing, is as fresh as it can possibly be, without being tainted in any way.

Unfortunately, many have reported finding a wide range of "foreign items" in their food, whether it be from a restaurant or supermarket. Such things as hair, pieces of paper or cardboard and even small animals and vermin, such as worms, spiders, tarantuas, etc., have been discovered in our food supplies. The list., I'm sure is endless, as many of our foods are shipped from exotic places around the world. It is unlikely that "all" of the vermin will be noticed and then weeded out in the harvesting, packaging and subsequent shipping of such food.

In fact, recently a woman from Vienna Austria discovered a most unusual item in the frozen spinach she purchased from her local supermarket. Unfortunately, she didn't notice it right away as she was taking it from the package, but while she prepared and served dinner for her family, she soon discovered a full, intact dead frog (minus a leg, which might have still been in the saucepan) as she dished out the meal to her child. This would certainly be enough to ruin the evening meal!

I assume that in Vienna, they haven't yet become accustomed to sueing their stores for mental trauma and emotional distress over finding small creatures and the like in their food. After confronting the manager of her local supermarket, her only compensation was a free packet of coffee. Well, I don't suppose she would have cared for another package of spinach as a replacement just yet. It might be quite a while before she thinks to add that to her menu again in the near future.

It is inevitable that some creatures may be overlooked in the inspection process before foods are processed and shipped. It's also possible that certain creatures might already be aboard the ship, plane or other mode of transport and therefore can easily get into the food before arriving at our local stores. And because we do trade with so many nations around the globe more and more, it's a fact of life that certain unsuspecting passengers will be hitching a ride along with our produce. It might be a good idea to thoroughly check your produce before putting it into your cart at the supermarket, or opening it up at home and serving it to your family.