Frog in Green Beans Can: How Common Are Animals in Canned Foods?
While serving a standard dinner of meat loaf, mashed potatoes, and green beans for her family, Gloria Chubb of Indiana was shocked to find a dead frog in the beans can she opened.
"My son put some on his plate and said, 'What is that?'" Chubb told WBND/CNN News.
"I had it in my hand because I was trying to figure out what it was. And I took it out of there, and it wasn't moldy bacon," like she thought it might be.
"It was a toad with parts of his little legs all in the green beans. Other than that, he was fully intact."
Chubb had not noticed the dead frog until after cooking it along with the green beans in the microwave.
She took the frog and beans can to the St. Joseph Country Health Department, where officials obtained photographic evidence of the animal and forwarded it to the Indiana State Department of Health for further investigation.
Rita Hooten, the St. Joseph Country Health Department's food service director, explained to WBND that the frog in the beans can most likely arrived there after jumping into a container of green beans freshly picked from the field. Green bean fields, as well as corn and pea fields, are natural habitats for frogs and toads, reports ABC 57.
The frog may have gotten too comfortable while camouflaged among the beans, failing to hop away before it was processed into the can.
It's unlikely for the animals to show up in a can of vegetables, but this isn't the first time a whole frog was found in canned food.
In 2011, a Kentucky woman found a dead frog in a can of Wylwood green beans, and an Illinois pet owner found one in a can of Pedigree dog food.
"I think they should come up with a better way of inspecting and canning vegetables. I mean anything can happen you know but a whole frog?" Chubb lamented to WBND.
According to local news sources, the Indiana Department of Health reports that the most common animals found in canned foods are toads, mice, and grasshoppers, though animal and insect parts are also sometimes found in frozen vegetables.
The Indiana consumer specialist who reviewed this case concluded that factory canning is extremely fast, sometimes processing 300 cans per minute. That's far too fast to notice small animals, especially greenish ones like that fateful frog that easily blend in.
Meijer, the canned food company that packed the green beans, gave Chubb a refund on all her unopened Meijer cans, as well as an apology letter containing $50.
The company also sent a statement to WBND stating that "We sincerely regret this customer's experience, and we are in the process of investigating the incident."
Still, Chubb is not interested in any more of these processed vegetables.
"We eat a lot of green beans. We do. We did. Nobody wants anymore now," she said. "I was sick, nauseated for two days, and I don't think I'll have green beans anytime soon."
Unless you don't mind surprise stowaways in your vegetables, you may want to consider avoiding canned foods as well.