Finding something in your food used to be fun as a kid, (think Cracker Jack and cereal boxes). But after a certain age, the last thing you want to do is sit down to a meal you just made or paid for and find something that's definitely not supposed to be there. Everyone on this list was going about their business when they looked down to find something funny, yucky, or just downright dangerous lurking in their lunch or dinner. How would you react if you found these in your food?
Someone Received Some Extra Cardboard With Their Pizza
When we imagine a frozen pizza factory, we imagine a line of workers dropping different toppings on pizzas as the pizzas pass by on conveyor belts. Actually, that's sort of how we imagine all factories, and we know that's most likely not the case. However, how does one end up with a piece of cardboard separating their pizza crust from their pizza toppings? It's not the worst thing to find in your food, but it's still a bit confusing nonetheless.
It had to be a really busy day at the pizza factory, or maybe one of the machines malfunctioned and placed the cardboard on top of the pizza instead of on bottom.
Just When We Thought You Couldn't Possibly Ruin Ice Cream
Whoever made this ice cream bar took the first part of the word extremely literal. Perhaps the worst part about this whole thing is that this isn't a popsicle; it's ice cream, so someone probably went in to take a bite and ended up with a mouth full of flavorless ice. We aren't really sure how this would even be possible nor what we'd do if it happened to us.
We mean, if it's a really hot day and you just spent a bit of money on some ice cream, do you finish it or throw it away? It doesn't look like it'd be THAT bad.
A Free Extra Topping
Okay, this one is a bit disgusting. Someone was knawing on their pizza and probably noticed that the crust tasted a bit too chewy. It turned out that the chef left their glove inside the pizza. We're not exactly sure how that could happen but our brains instantly imagine a very busy pizza shop and someone tossing like three or four pizzas in the air at the same time.
Either way, it's not something you want to find in your pizza, and it's most definitely not something you want to happen if you're the pizza shop owner, either.
Leafy Green Or Camouflaged Bug?
We're sure you've all seen nature shows or photos depicting a praying mantis. These predators blend in perfectly with their surroundings, so we're not entirely surprised to see one in this photo. If we were the person trying to enjoy their salad, this would probably give us a scare, but luckily, we're not. Still, we are probably going to give every salad we eat from now till the end of time an extra look.
The little guy in this photo probably just got thrown in with the other leafy greens and was so well camoflouged that nobody noticed until he'd already landed on the plate.
An Egg Inside An Egg
If you've ever seen those Russian nesting dolls, that's exactly what this photo reminded us of. We can't imagine this person's surprise when they went to crack this egg and discovered another egg underneath. It's hard enough to crack an egg that only has a single shell, much less one that has a secondary shell underneath. We will say that this particular photo seems a little suspicious compared to all the others on this list.
For starters, we're not even sure if it's possible from a scientific standpoint for an egg to have two shells. Also, it kind of looks like there might be some tape holding the outer egg layer together.
Strands Of Curvy Spaghetti
This one really isn't that bad compared to a lot of other food finds on this list, but it is still kind of interesting. Someone opened up their spaghetti package and found a couple of strands that stood out from the rest. They sort of loop back in towards the bottom of the packaging. It's kind of impressive that they didn't break, and we're guessing the machines just missed them on the conveyor belt.
If you ever watch a video on how spaghetti is made, there's a part in the process where it is supposed to be cut, which it looks like these couple of strands skipped.
A Two For One Deal
We love oysters, but we're not going to lie, they don't look like the most appetizing dish out there. So, imagine opening up your oyster and looking down to see a tiny baby crab on the inside. It might sound like a cute picture until you take a look at the crab in this photo. We're not entirely sure we'd be able to stomach the other half a dozen or so after finding this.
Then again, maybe an oyster with a side of tiny crab wouldn't be that bad. Throw a bit of tobasco sauce on it and it'd sort of be like eating softshell crab.
The Rotisserie Came With The Rod
Unlike a lot of others on this list, we could probably realistically imagine how this might happen. It looks like the rod that held the chicken was quite short, so it's not hard to imagine a busy worker just grabbing the whole rod, chicken and all, and throwing it in a bag to sell to a customer. What is hard to imagine is someone picking up that bag and not noticing it weighs a lot more than it should.
Still, this isn't the worst thing in the world, we just hope they didn't pay for the extra weight from the rod when they got to the register and rang up.
Sea Salt With A Dash Of Sea Shell
This one is actually kind of cool, or at least as cool as finding something in your food can get. Someone found a tiny sea shell in their sea salt (try saying that really fast five times). If they were worried that their salt wasn't actually harvested from a sea, then this is probably all the proof they needed. It doesn't get much more legitimate than beach debris in your container.
That said, it is kind of a double-edged sword because it says a bit about how meticulous and clean the company that packaged the salt was after they harvested it.
A Square Of Uncut Cheetos
We've stared at this photo for a couple of minutes now, and we still aren't sure if this is the best thing we've ever seen or the worst. One on hand, who wouldn't want a block of uncut Cheetos, right? However, on the other, there's something just a little bit unsettling about it. It's sort of like pulling back the curtain and then immediately regretting your decision to take a peek.
We're just saying that we probably could have been perfectly fine never knowing that Cheetos are actually cut from a larger brick of Cheetos. Yes, it's processed food, but we'd rather not think about the "processed" part.
The Kids' Pasta Got Mixed In With The Adults
There's always something so elegant about Italian cuisine, so it's kind of funny seeing this piece of bicycle pasta mixed in with an adult dish. We're not sure if they were at a restaurant or if things just somehow got mixed up at the penne factory, but it's not something you'd expect to find in your dish. If they are at a restaurant, then good on the restaurant for having bicycle pasta on the menu.
There are much worse things you could come across in your pasta, some of which are on this list, so we're sure whoever this was probably just laughed the whole thing off.
Someone Found A Scorpion In Their Ice Cream
Okay, this one is a bit stomach-turning. Someone unwrapped their ice cream and found a scorpion that looked like it fell into a vat of ice cream and got turned into a cone. Obviously, this is not going to be the first thing you'd want to see when you unwrap your ice cream, but that bug was probably swimming around in a tub of ice cream that got sent out to tons of different people.
It's also just really hard to see or tell it's there, so they're lucky they were able to spot it before they took a huge bite and got a mouthful of scorpion.
A Piece Of Machinery Inside A Popsicle
There are a couple of different ice cream and popsicle photos on this list and the whole thing is really ruining one of our favorite sweets for us. This person found an entire piece of machinery in their popsicle. Okay, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but it is a rather large lugnut or some other type of nut. Luckily, they noticed it before they took a bite.
It also begs the question, how did it get in there? The only solution we could think of is the machinery at the factory is falling to pieces, literally.
Someone Discovered An Entirely New Flavor
This one is kind of cool. Someone went out and bought this bag of airheads. All of the usual colors are there, including white, which is supposed to be a mystery color. However, if you look closer, you might notice something a little odd. They pulled out a yellow piece, which wasn't listed on the packaging at all. It actually makes us really curious as to how it got in there and what it tastes like.
The obvious flavor of choice for yellow is usually banana, but would that even be possible, considering the process they use back at the factory probably doesn't utilize banana?
An Extra Ingredient In This Bag Of Frozen Vegetables
How could you possibly make a bag of frozen vegetables taste any more earthy? Just add in a piece of wood. Someone opened up their bag of frozen vegetables and out fell an entire chunk of wood. It looks like it may have been from a board or something, which might explain how it got in there. Still, we'd probably just toss the whole thing, considering it could've been treated wood.
The packaging also says it's a steam bag, so it may have already been cooked, so we'd probably just toss it and look for something else to make instead.
Not The Worst Thing You Could Find In An Oyster
Finding a pearl in an oyster is kind of cool, although it's not super unheard of. There's a pearl in about 1 in every 10,000 oysters, so if you think about how many are probably eaten every day, your chances of finding one aren't so bad, especially if you like to eat oysters. However, we will say that whoever this is sort of dodged a bullet by not swallowing the pearl before they noticed it.
Or, even worse, before biting down and maybe chipping or losing a tooth. That pearl probably paid for the whole meal, which is also pretty cool to think about.
A Pringle Not Like The Rest
Firstly, we're not sure how Pringles are made, and we probably don't even really want to know. However, we've never seen a pringle with any kind of design or pattern on it, so this has us really curious. We didn't even know that was possible. It looks like something may have pressed down on it really have at some point in the manufacturing process, which left what looks like track marks.
It also has slightly different coloring than the other Pringle. Now that we think about it, it's kind of weird in and of itself that every single Pringle has the exact same shape and coloring.
A USB Stick In A Stick Of Sausage
This is actually kind of crazy. So, someone found this USB inside some sausage; weird enough, right? Well, it turned out that it was put there on purpose because the sausage maker was looking for a date. It's probably the most clever way to ask someone out that we've ever seen, but it's also a tad bit odd. We're guessing this was a regular customer who came in quite often.
Otherwise, you'd just be sending the USB out into the wild with a random person. It was also kind of smart of him to assume that someone was going to plug it into their computer to see if it still worked.
Human Finger Or Oddly Shaped Carrot?
Don't worry, we had the same reaction when we first saw this photo. It looks exactly like a human finger, but it's actually just a baby carrot, albeit one that possesses an uncanny resemblance to a certain human body part. If we'd just opened a bag of frozen vegetables and poured it into a pan, we'd probably jump up and down screaming as soon as we saw this thing come out.
Baby carrot or not, it's going into the trash. You shouldn't care about the way fruits and vegetables look, but it'd probably be cool to make an exception here.
A Tiny Starfish Locked Away In A Mussel
You really never know what you're going to get when it comes to seafood. Someone was chowing down on some mussels when they opened one up to find a tiny starfish. The starfish itself doesn't really look all that weird; in fact, it looks kind of adorable. However, we'd probably lay off the mussels for a while after coming across something like this. Finding anything inside a shell other than what's supposed to be there is a bit unsettling.
We also can't tell for sure or not, but the starfish looks like it's still alive in this photo, which begs the question: what did they end up doing with it?
Steak And Snail, The Perfect Duo
Ask enough people what the worst thing they could find in their food would be, and you're bound to get a lot of people who say bugs. However, in some countries, bugs are actually delicacies, including snails. It's just all about how you look at it. However, for some reason, we're sure whoever ordered this steak probably wasn't too thrilled to find a snail crawling around right underneath it.
It looks like they'd already taken a couple of bites of the steak before they ultimately discovered that their plate came with an extra side, but we're sure the waiter probably offered them a refund.
Cereal Really Is Made Using Whole Grains
With all of the different advertising these days, it's hard to tell if there's much truth to any of it. However, whoever bought this cereal can rest easy knowing that the marketing on the package that reads "made with whole grains" isn't just there for looks. They actually found a whole grain in their cereal when they poured it into a bowl. We're not sure if you could actually eat it, but it's there.
It also makes us wonder how in the world it got through all the processing steps to end up in the box, but that's probably another question we're best off not knowing the answer to.
Something Is Missing In This Photo
We're not sure what's worse, finding something in your food or finding something like this. It looks like someone took a bite out of this bar before it was packaged. Sure, it could just be due to something wacky that happened during processing, but that sure does look like a bite mark if we've ever seen one. Then again, it also looks a little too perfectly crescent-shaped to be a bite mark.
Either way, this would be going straight into the trash if we ever opened something like it up and found an entire portion missing. Better to be safe than sorry.
Someone Found This In Their Ice Cream
Okay, there sure are a lot of candidates on this list for the worst thing to find in your ice cream. How in the world does an entire toad get packaged and sealed inside a tub of ice cream? This raises all kinds of questions, and we're not even really talking about the sanitary conditions at the factory. There has to be a ton of people working on the floor, so how does nobody spot a toad hopping around?
Not only that, but this toad was probably swimming around with all of the ice cream in the vat, much of which was probably packaged and sent out to sell.
Hey There Honey Bee
Strangely enough, if you were to ever find a bug inside a food product, you'd probably want that product to be honey. We mean, they literally make it, right? So, it's not like you can really be grossed out about a bee touching your honey. It also proves, in a weird way, that the honey is actually real honey and not made up of whatever it is a lot of manufacturers put in their products.
This is probably one of the few on this list that we wouldn't completely throw out if we were to find something similar, although we would remove the bee and keep the rest.
Someone Took The Word "Potato Chip" Too Literal
This is a slightly weird one. This person opened up their bag of potato chips, probably after feeling the weight of the bag and thinking they'd gotten a decent deal, to find an actual whole potato on the inside. We're honestly very surprised that the company didn't catch this during the weighing process, considering how much effort they put into packing as much air as possible into their bags.
This isn't just this person grabbing a potato off the counter and taking a photo either, because you can see that the potato was seasoned in the same way as the chips.
What A Steal!
Honestly, if you had the chance to buy a jar of pickles versus a jar of pickles with a nut, which would you choose? It's not like the nut is inside one of the pickles. It's just sitting there in the jar, and it's basically free. Hardware is getting expensive these days. Joking aside, this does raise some interesting questions about just what's happening back at the pickle plant.
Are things really so bad that they have nuts and maybe even other pieces of machinery falling off and onto conveyor belts? Hopefully they get everything worked out over there.
Is This Fishing Hook Decoration Or Garnish?
So, we don't have much to go on here. It's hard to tell if someone was having fish and discovered a fishing hook inside their dish or if this just came as is on the side of the plate. The first one would be sort of understandable, if a bit dangerous. However, we just couldn't imagine a server or chef not noticing that this was lying on the side of a plate as it was being brought out.
If so, how in the world did the hook even get into the kitchen? Did their fish guy accidentally drop it when they were delivering the day's catch? We're not sure, but we will say that's a nice knot.
Someone Found Metal In Their Meal
This photo is a little deceiving. The person who took it just placed the banana there for scale because everyone knows that bananas are the universal object for showing scale. However, they actually found it in their salad, which is a lot more alarming then if they'd found it in their banana. For starters, it'd be really hard to make out this tiny piece of metal in a plate full of leafy greens.
You wouldn't want to swallow this, and you'd especially not want to bite down on it while you were chewing. Even thinking about doing so is making our teeth hurt.
Want Mixed Vegetables? Well, Here Have Some Corn
Something must've really messed up back at the factory for this to happen. Someone opened up their bag of mixed vegetables expecting, you know, just that, only to pour out what's basically just a bag full of corn. There are like two pieces of carrot in there, but it's basically just all corn. It's unclear what they're making, but we're betting it calls for a bit more variety than this.
Still, it's kind of funny it'd probably just make us laugh more than anything. Maybe they can switch things up a bit and just make some popcorn instead.
Some Madman Took A Bite Out Of This Butter
There are a couple of photos on this list that look as though someone took a bite out of food, but it's really hard to tell if those are actually bite marks. There's no disputing this one. You can clearly see the teeth marks from where someone just went in and took a chunk off this corner. Firstly, just throw the whole thing away and go get a new one.
Secondly, what kind of madman just bites into a stick of butter like that? It's sort of like biting straight into an onion or an uncooked potato, you just don't do it.
This Is How You Know The Chicken Is Fresh
There are few things in this world that would cause us to turn down some chicken, but this is definitely one of them. Someone's chicken came out with the feathers still attached. That's pretty bad, especially considering that this should've been caught in the kitchen. How does the cook or chef not notice this while they're working? Technically, it's fine to just remove the feathers and eat, but we're betting this person lost their appetite.
Hopefully, the rest of the meal was pleasant, and there weren't any more surprises waiting around inside of their dishes, if they could stomach the rest of the meal.
A Pepper With Its Sticker Still Attached
This one kind of seems like an honest mistake. This looks like maybe Chinese food. Someone was eating their meal when they noticed that there was still a produce sticker attached to their pepper. On the one hand, at least they know it's fresh, and now they also know the place of origin. On the other hand, it probably would've really sucked to bite into it and then have that paper taste in their mouths.
Luckily, this isn't too bad so there's no harm in just moving the piece of pepper off to the side and going about your meal the same you would had you not seen the sticker.
This Person Found A Baby Orange
You may have found something similar to the baby orange in this photo at some point in your life. It's not super uncommon to open up a fruit or vegetable and find a tinier version growing on the inside. Although, we've never seen an orange, skin and all, inside of another orange. It's kind of cool. And the smaller piece looks really adorable for some reason, although it's probably much harder to peel.
This person was probably a bit startled at first and didn't know what it was, but we're sure they enjoyed the snack a bit more after realizing it was just a really tiny orange.
They Found That Spoon They Were Looking For
This looks like some homemade bread or cake, so we're guessing they lost the spoon in the batter and just placed it in the oven to cook and let it bake. After it was finished, they cut into it, only to realize where they misplaced the missing spoon. They probably got a bit of a laugh out of it, and also some really tasty cake after pulling the spoon out.
Minus the spoon, it's a pretty nice example of a sponge cake. There could've been many things much worse than a spoon they found in that after cutting it open.
A Wacky Carrot
We're just taking a wild guess here, but we don't think this carrot is supposed to be shaped like a fish. Or, we should say, the carrots in this dish are probably supposed to be cut normally. It looks like someone is having some fried rice, and somehow, this fish-shaped carrot made it into the dish. It was probably meant to be used in a kid's meal or something like that.
Even so, it's kind of funny seeing a random carrot shaped like a fish in a dish that's grown up. It's also just a really big slice of carrot to have with your fried rice.
Someone Found A Salt Crystal In Their Dish
This one is kind of neat. Someone found this huge salt crystal in their dish while they were eating. It looks almost like a sreally big nowflake or some kind of other crystal made out of harder minerals. While it's cool that they found it, we're sure the last thing they wanted to do was take a giant bite out of it, since it's basically just a lot of salt.
There's also the possibility that it could chip a tooth since these tend to be a lot harder than you'd think, and this one is absolutely massive. You might lose chips off a couple of teeth.
Maple Syrup Crystals
If you ever find these in your maple syrup container, then don't worry. These crystals, which look like crystals you'd dig out of the Earth, actually form due to the high sugar content found in maple syrup. You can also eat them, and they're supposed to taste pretty good. You can also just melt them and put them back in the bottle with the rest of your maple syrup, but that's less fun.
If you're curious, there are also a couple of simple videos online showing you how to make your own maple syrup candy or crystals, which sounds like an absolutely delicious idea.
Someone Found This Fish Inside Their Squid
No matter your opinion on squid, you probably definitely wouldn't want to open it up and find this. Someone bought this squid at the store and didn't notice that it contained a whole other animal inside of it until they got home and cut it open. This would definitely ruin our appetite. It looks like the squid caught the fish and was still in the process of consuming it when it was caught.
We get that it's a natural process that every animal has, but it's just another thing entirely to actually open up a squid and see a half-digested fish chilling on the inside.
Nothing Like A Handle To Throw Off The Appetite
This one might take the award for "how in the world does this even happen." We can kind of understand tiny metal fragments or even small bugs, but how does someone miss the fact that there's a huge metal handle sitting right there in the middle of the dish? It honestly takes up half the bowl. It makes us think that whoever made this did it on purpose, or maybe it happened after it left the restaurant.
Whatever the case, we're sure the customer wasn't thrilled when they opened up their order and found this. You don't have to be picky to send this one back to the kitchen.