A woman found a dead lizard in her bag of kale from Trader Joe’s

gracielou_who/Instagram

The last thing you expect to find when you open a bag of frozen kale is, well, anything but kale. But one unsuspecting woman opened a bag of frozen kale she’d gotten from Trader Joe’s to find a dead lizard awaiting her inside.

If you’ve officially sworn off kale for good now—we can’t say we blame you.

Grace Goldstein, who purchased the kale at a Trader Joe’s in Washington D.C., posted photo evidence of her receipt and the frozen lizard to Instagram. As you can imagine, her post has since gotten a lot of attention.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BhIbTcqhIx0/?taken-by=gracielou_who

The post’s caption read: “@traderjoes Why is there a lizard in my bag of kale?” She also appropriately included “#vomit.”

Goldstein’s friend also posted a photo of the dead lizard to Twitter, and the reactions from people who are typically Trader Joe’s fans poured in.

“I’m the number 1 #traderjoes apologist, but this lizard in my friend’s kale isn’t great…” reads the initial tweet from @KateBerner:

“OMG I can’t unsee this,” one disgusted Trader Joe’s shopper, @LizMarieAllen, chimed in:

“If I have to stop shopping at TJ’s I’m going to be very sad,” @kabarkof, another lover of the grocery chain, tweeted:

Thankfully, Trader Joe’s seems to have received Goldstein’s complaint and is looking into the matter. They released the following statement:

“We are committed to providing customers with great products of the highest quality and are currently working with our vendor to look into and address the matter,” a spokesperson told People in a statement.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time someone’s found a totally disgusting foreign object in their food. One woman claims to have found mouse intestines in a box of soup she bought from a Fred Meyer store earlier this month.

via GIPHY

What To Do If This Happens To You

In the somewhat rare instance you find a foreign object in your food, a Metro article lays out instructions on what you’re supposed to do, which includes photographing the evidence, keeping the food in the freezer to preserve the evidence and reaching out to the store.

What it urges against is returning the food item to the store in exchange for a simple reimbursement or coupon when you could be entitled to more. So Goldstein—who told People magazine that the kale (and the lizard) is still in her freezer—seems to be handling the situation in the best way possible.

Although she does note, “It’s a little too close to my late night ice cream for comfort.” Stay strong, Goldstein, stay strong!

If you happen to get injured from the foreign object in your food, the Legal Match website lays out a list of actions to take to move forward with a personal injury claim. The biggest takeaway? In order to prove negligence, you need evidence that you suffered some sort of damage from the foreign object found in your food. In this case, we would if emotional distress counts!

Why You Should Rinse Even Frozen Produce

According to fruitsandveggiesmoremaatters.org, washing fresh produce is important for ridding the produce of bacteria. The website also recommends washing frozen produce, even though it is often “pre-washed.”

Adobe

“Just rinse frozen or thawed fruit in a colander under cool water and then enjoy,” the website advises.

Not only is this more sanitary—it’s a good way to check for lizards!

Have you been scared away from pre-packaged produce entirely?

RELATED: Here are the best ways to keep your food fresh for longer!

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About the Author
Augusta Statz
I have a B.F.A. in Writing from the Savannah College of Art and Design. I’m an avid writer with a genuine sense of curiosity. I feel the best way to absorb the world around you is through fashion, art and food, so that’s what I spend most of my time writing about.

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