Buying a bag of kale is sad enough without finding a dead lizard inside. Trader Joe's normally skates by food recalls and other dangerous issues, except for the Stella Artois glass recall, so it's surprising to see this kind of error in their stores. Known for great products of the highest quality for cheaper prices, Trader Joe's often does a great job of putting customers first. However, this unfortunate finding happened to Grace Goldstein of Washington, D.C. who brought home a bag of Trader Joe's kale only to flip it over to see a dead reptile through the clear packaging.
Goldstein told People magazine,
"It was a back and forth between denial and horror, which amounted to a lot of asking my boyfriend to see the bag of kale and identify the lizard and shrieking and pushing it away and refusing to go near it...and then asking to see it again."
Instagram: graceylou_who
She placed the bag in the freezer to preserve it since she reached out to TJ corporate and was unsure if the brand would ask to see the bag for confirmation. She told People, "It's a little too close to my late night ice cream for comfort."
I?m the number 1 #traderjoes apologist, but this lizard in my friend?s kale isn?t great... pic.twitter.com/mLd5gOxk1Y
— Kate Berner (@KateBerner) April 4, 2018
The story went viral after Goldstein's friend Kate Berner uploaded the photo to Twitter and slowly but surely, other unhappy Trader Joe's customers began to respond with their own horror stories.
For example, one user, Kendra Barkoff Lamy, even posted a photo of a "2 feet long" piece of hair that came out of a Trader Joe's ice cream sandwich.
Omg! We had a hair that was 2 feet long that came out of a #traderjoes ice cream sandwich. pic.twitter.com/JrKvLg5bzt
— Kendra Barkoff Lamy (@kabarkoff) April 4, 2018
I don't know about you, but these photos will flash through my head when I'm perusing the fresh produce and the frozen treats at my local Trader Joe's. No chain is perfect, but you just hope that they're asking vendors to step up their quality control practices.
Have you ever found anything unsavory in a grocery store purchase? Let us know in the comments.
