Discussion of the Day
Product quality
The dog house27-Oct-22
Recently I found something in my corn chips from Coles. It was large, thick and dark brown. I kept thinking, please do not let it be that. I have to return it to Coles and get a refund. Four weeks ago, I found metal in my mouth after eating Asian noodles. I still could not believe that might have been in it. I have not reported the noodles. Have you ever had something like this happen to you?
Comments
  • I feel like the product quality I buy is not as good as it once was, except now there is a lot less of it.
    ·
    • always report it, and send the offending article in, too. Quality control is vital for the food business.
      ·
      • many years ago, I found a triangular piece of plastic in a muffin that I had ordered at the old K-mart canteens. When I asked the customer service person for a refund, she said that I had already taken a bite out of the item concerned. I explained that a refund may be cheaper than a law-suit if I had actually swallowed the item
        ·
        • Yes in a white pudding it's quite a shock
          ·
          • No not yet. We can still have problems with products made in our country but we should still be making more of our products here in this country. What does it cost in terms of pollution to transport a bag of corn chips across the world?
            ·
            • A spider in a pack of strawberries. Bones in fish that's supposedly boneless.
              ·
              • No
                ·
                • No but I don't eat corn chips ,the taste reminds me of cardboard not that I have eaten cardboard either.
                  ·
                  • Thank God no
                    ·
                    • Food poisoning a few times. It’s horrible Also burnt chips in my bag of crisps lately
                      ·
                      • I’ve just had food poisoning a few times and once I was so bad vomiting that it burst a blood vessel in my eye
                        ·
                        • My brother’s birthday cake from the local bakery was beautiful and yummy. And surprise,surprise- there was a big nail in it!
                          ·
                          • I think i found some real tomato in a McDs burger once.
                            ·
                            • View all 11 replies
                            • Lol funny Mary I’ve noticed that too, hardly any tomatoes
                              ·
                            • mary cMariaj
                              Burger Fuel..yum yum..
                              ·
                            • Mariajmary c
                              I’ve never had that but love ReBurger :-)
                              ·
                            • mary cMariaj
                              Where are you Maria? i don't know of that place-i'm in NZ.
                              ·
                            • Mariajmary c
                              So am I Mary I’m the South Island :-)
                              ·
                            • mary cMariaj
                              oh the MotherShip- south island. I'm from Chch- land of the Brave. Miss my homeland. There's a new burger place here called Dirty Burger's- haha the name puts me off.
                              ·
                            • Mariajmary c
                              Haha funny Where is your homeland Mary ?My oldest son lives in Chch now.I’m just down the road in Timaru
                              ·
                            • mary cMariaj
                              Aww yes Chch was my homeland- now in the wilds of the Hutt Valley- Hope all is good in Timaru :)
                              ·
                            • Mariajmary c
                              I used to live it the Hutt years ago lol
                              ·
                            • mary cMariaj
                              haha you escaped :)
                              ·
                            • Mariajmary c
                              Yes haha Want to escape here too sometime soon :-) Take care Mary
                              ·
                          • No, but I have noted shrinking product sizes with no corresponding adjustment to price. Thompsons Multivital has recently been reduced from 375 ml to 200 ml. It's evidently a new formula but to me it seems like they've actually reduced the ingredients. The price has gone from $6.60 per 100ml to $8.00 per 100ml.
                            ·
                            • Yes, I have reported strange objects twice, and received a refund or voucher from the manufacturer. It’s worth letting them know.
                              ·
                              • no I haven't but if I did I would report it as a child could have eaton it.
                                ·
                                • Nothing that comes to mind
                                  ·
                                  • Found weavils in an imported cake. Was refunded but the Use By date revealed it was well and truly passed its date and should not have been on the shelf.
                                    ·
                                    • I remember a time at a Catholic school in Adelaide/Tapparoo. I ordered a pasty. After eating half of it, I noticed a lot of black things throughout. It was full of ants. Boy that was way back.
                                      ·
                                      • Better to find a full grub in your apple than half a one. Yes had some strange stuff in my cereal and complained and got refund/ new package
                                        ·
                                        • Fortunately no
                                          ·
                                          • yes
                                            ·
                                            • If you find anything in any food the best thing is to contact the manufacture....years go I bought a vienetta and found a strand of hair in it....contacted the company and they wanted me to send it to them...they tested it and said it didn't come from their factory....but I did get a voucher.....this is why you go straight to the source...when you find something in a sealed packaging this has nothing to do with where you purchased it from
                                              ·
                                              • Just the obvious things like frogs in Lettuces Metals however shoul dnot be getting into foods by the production process but human sunatage like the needles in Strawberries is always a possibility and has to be jumped on whenever it is found so if you found metal in a foodstuff it is your duty to report it to the place that sold the product so at the very least as few others as possible get injured.
                                                ·
                                                • Also bought a packet of tampons once and one of them was like the scud missile of tampons! Don’t know who modelled the design for that one, but it certainly wasn’t me. I sent the scud back and suggested they look into their quality control measures. Got a few free packets and profuse apologies. I’m telling you this thing was HUGE!!!
                                                  ·
                                                  • Yep found a really long, man’s little finger nailed baked in to my croissant in Egypt. Couldn’t help but wonder about all the gross uses such a long fingernail would have had for this man, and then it made its way not just into my croissant, but my mouth. No amount of scalding hot water has ever been able to reduce the trauma and violation that I experienced that morning at breakfast.
                                                    ·
                                                    • Sorry for that experience but I hope you had a good time other than that
                                                      ·
                                                    • Yeah I did. It’s a pretty amazing country. Thanks for asking.
                                                      ·
                                                  • Once, many years ago, I bought a chocolate bar out of a machine, it had a grub in it, so returned it to manufacturers and they sent me a box full of more chocolates.
                                                    ·
                                                    • Ha what's that
                                                      ·
                                                      • I once had a bottle of bourbon that was subject to a recall because of glass fragments...I carefully strained 3/4s of it then took the remainder and exchanged it for a full bottle...I was very happy...
                                                        ·
                                                        • Nice Paul! Exactly what I would have done. Or I would probably gone so far as to strain the whole bottle and replaced it with coloured water. You are a good and wise man…..
                                                          ·
                                                        • Paul J 94868Christine M 323842
                                                          Thanks Christine!
                                                          ·
                                                      • 95% of produce I buy is quality over low priced/ poorer quality items. Home brand frozen vegetables are the only item I buy that is not branded but still made in Australia.
                                                        ·
                                                        • Yes. And I have been on the other end too as I used to work in a food factory and we once had to spend a lot of overtime hours out at an airport xraying lots of pallets of product to find a part of the machine they were made on as nobody could find the part when they cleaned the machine..... They never did find it either.
                                                          ·
                                                          • Yes
                                                            ·
                                                            • I had glass in the bottom of a Soy Sauce bottle. The bottle itself was not damaged. Only last week I bought a 5 pack of lemons (marked not the perfect type - I forge the actual title they use), anyway, put it in the bowl and the next day total green mould all over them. I had to throw them all out. I did go to the service desk of the supermarket and was refunded. However, it seems they must have come out of cold storage and I feel this needs to be shown - Cold Storage - 2 weeks etc.
                                                              ·
                                                              • These company do not do their quality check on their products regularly, and If you ring the number it say on the label, you will get peanuts for reward and they know they got off easily. Ring the authority concern and the local news paper to publish your story, and that will shake them up
                                                                ·
                                                                • Yep I brought a packet of gluten free Farrah wraps just recently and they had spots of mould on them.I took a photo and emailed the business behind the brand and never got a personal reply back or apology however they did send me a voucher via email to the value of NZ$30 which was very generous.
                                                                  ·
                                                                  • I opened a new block of cheese that was mouldy.
                                                                    ·
                                                                    • Yes the twisties where stale I rang the number and got a voucher for replacement
                                                                      ·
                                                                      • No it hasn't happened to me thank goodness.
                                                                        ·
                                                                        • I had maggots on a danish once and that was disgusting. We also found a metal object in a bottle of pasta sauce once, had no idea how it got in there or where it had come from. Hubby found it in his dinner of spaghetti Bol. I ordered a chicken schnitzel sandwich once from a Snack Bar and the chicken had fur, not down but fur. I was horrified. I took it back and I never order any thing other than an egg and lettuce sandwich after that. I wanted to get the meat tested to see what it was but who can afford that and I didn't know where to go to start with. I got my money back. Took me a long time before I went back too.
                                                                          ·
                                                                          • Yes. Eating a piece of link sausage and there was a peppermint candy paper wrapper mixed in. I took pictures and called the sausage plant to complain. How about they offered me a case of sausage!
                                                                            ·
                                                                            • I found glass in bread once, scared me about to death, and once found an insect in a cupcake, a large mosquito, that was just plain upsetting.
                                                                              ·
                                                                              • I found a plastic paddle in a frozen sandwich once at a convenience store.
                                                                                ·
                                                                                • No, never thank goodness. Sorry you experienced that
                                                                                  ·
                                                                                  • I sometimes get an insect in my vegtables but I can’t take them back if I grew them
                                                                                    ·
                                                                                    • Lol…..yep, the odd slug in the cabbages, what the wife don’t know won’t hurt her
                                                                                      ·
                                                                                    • Paul B 522937Joe B 288252
                                                                                      I’m the only one as I live alone but they say they are better than chicken
                                                                                      ·
                                                                                  • a dead bug in my canned soup
                                                                                    ·
                                                                                    • Found a piece of metal in a frozen pizza once. Otherwise just usual mold in food before expiry and stuff.
                                                                                      ·
                                                                                      • no never maybe it depends on what you buy and were it is made
                                                                                        ·
                                                                                        • I have found bits of gravel in dried soup mix once, but not sure if I did anything about it.
                                                                                          ·
                                                                                          • no
                                                                                            ·
                                                                                            • Yes contact the manufacture not the supermarket they will refund the money back but also they send you samples but you need to returned the contaminated item back.
                                                                                              ·
                                                                                              • I have found things in food that are possible to be there and not harmful. Such a piece of a nutshell or a stem from a vegetable. I have not found anything that I thought to be harmful. However, with the way things are going in this world (not just the US), not much would surprise me. It seems sometimes that everyone is out to get everyone else, and I can't understand why. What is the payoff?
                                                                                                ·
                                                                                                • Yes, a few times. You need to bring back the bag so they can get the factory checked
                                                                                                  ·
                                                                                                  • I agree this happens to me with aldi flour not one but two had bug inside i didn't go back. Food's isn't how used to be. I hate food and safety is that good in Australia. A asian business i see in YouTube how clean food that that they work and make like Europe way.
                                                                                                    ·
                                                                                                    • Anything made from grains is liable to contain bugs. I lived on a farm and when we combined grains from the field. They were full of various kinds of bugs. There really is no way to avoid bugs from the farms standpoint. We weren't much for pesticides at that time. Which is worse? Ground up bugs probably do less harm than chemicals. Also, I think the grain is washed before it is processed. I never saw that part of the process, but I'm sure there is some way to wash out the bugs. If you keep flour, for a while, it is liable to get bugs from the eggs that have hatched in the wheat. I keep my flour in the fridge! You can even freeze it. It is logical that we do inject things that we aren't aware of and that don't harm us.
                                                                                                      ·
                                                                                                  • A few months ago I ate Campbell's chunky soup and bit on a piece of bone that was about 2 cm long. Contacted them, they sent me a prepaid bag for the can and bone. Received a $10 voucher. If I had broken my tooth I would have expected more.
                                                                                                    ·
                                                                                                    • A couple of times I've found foreign matter in food but always got compensated for it I've also had missing cheese or crackers even chocolate missing on biscuits If it effects your health, you can sue
                                                                                                      ·
                                                                                                      • no
                                                                                                        ·
                                                                                                        • There was another incident over 5 years ago. I purchased seeds from the Green grocer and it was infested. They appeared dead though. I let them know and I ended up throwing them in the bin rather than drive all the way to Chadstone.
                                                                                                          ·
                                                                                                          • Chaddy Suzy Q I didn’t know you were a local. That’s around the corner from my place.
                                                                                                            ·
                                                                                                        • A long time ago my brother in law found some wire in a tin of baby food and sent a complaint letter to the company. He received an apology letter from them and a large box of baby food as an apology.
                                                                                                          ·
                                                                                                          • Hope there was no wire in the replacement box!
                                                                                                            ·
                                                                                                        • No I havent woould be horrible
                                                                                                          ·
                                                                                                          • No have never found any foreign objects in the products I have bought, but always check just in case there maybe something.
                                                                                                            ·
                                                                                                            • I have not found anything yet but I am still looking at things when I open them.
                                                                                                              ·
                                                                                                              • Not yet, but am holding my breath hoping not I swallow some foreign object. Australian Made usual have Quality Assurance Checks in place but pays to check even those these days.
                                                                                                                ·
                                                                                                                • once a long time ago, notified the company and they sent me a letter of thanks for alerting them and some free samples of many of their products as a compensation
                                                                                                                  ·
                                                                                                                  • No
                                                                                                                    ·
                                                                                                                    • Too my amazement, I found flavour in a Coles product
                                                                                                                      ·
                                                                                                                      • YES! Lately, I have written many emails to companies who are not producing the quality of products they used to, before COVID-19. I do this to let them know they are not producing acceptable products anymore. The last one I emailed, I asked them if they are producing poor quality products faster trying to recover the money they may have lost during COVID-19? My worst one is Birdseye Voila' Dinners. I have found woody broccoli stems that feel like splinters in my mouth, corn cob pieces, bell pepper sticker stems, and even something I did not know what it was? It looked like a Lima bean with the texture of compressed pasta (which I photographed and sent to them) with the question, "Are you padding your dinners with junk to increase the weight?" In reply, I receive coupons for $7 to replace the meal, but I'm getting tired of trying their dinners, afraid of finding junk in them. I also complained to Domino's because of the inconsistency of the production of the same pizza! Sometimes there's not enough veggies, or they aren't applied evenly, or it was baked a little too long, and the last one didn't have enough sauce to taste good! I'm sorry this is so long, but I'm tired of company's sloppiness in the preparation of processed foods! ;-(
                                                                                                                        ·
                                                                                                                        • No. I am glad it was not me.
                                                                                                                          ·
                                                                                                                          • The product quality must be perfect in order for me to spend money on the product.
                                                                                                                            ·
                                                                                                                            • Maggots in a roast chicken from Woolworths. Put in a complaint. Result. $15.00AU compensation. Disgusting experience. Woolworths should have been penalised in some way.
                                                                                                                              ·
                                                                                                                              • I remember about 20 years ago buying a Sara Lee Struedel and finding a used bandaid in it. I reported it straight away to the company. I know that I received an apology from them but I cannot recall if I recieved any restitution. But I haven't eaten one since! I know there's been other things over the years but honestly I prefer to eat as few processed goods as possible, however that doesn't mean that I've never opened a pack of corn chips or salsa before. I DO think standards are dropping though and quality is going to keep going down as prices rise as companies are going to try to limit their costs by purchasing base goods like flour and sugar which are less than perfect to keep a slightly larger profit margin than otherwise.
                                                                                                                                ·
                                                                                                                                • NO to your question (LUCK ME). However, I have ate food items and got a "recall notice" on food items (after I have finishing eating the food item with a recall notice in effect) - it has happened to me - twice. I immediately got in contact with an attorney (that specializes in recall notices involving food items). Took about six months for me to get an out-of-court settlement - in each situation - made a difference in my standard of living - both times!
                                                                                                                                  ·
                                                                                                                                  • My thought is you get what u pay 4! The metal situation sucks I will admit!
                                                                                                                                    ·
                                                                                                                                    • Yes and I have reported it. We should report all instances of "foreign objects" in our food. If we don't then the manufacturers, most of whom I think do try to make their products safe to eat and use, won't be mad aware that maybe some of the equipment used in manufacturing their products may have an un-noticed fault. It also means that Federal, State and Territory Health Departments, Consumer Protection Agencies such as the ACCC and, probably most importantly of all when the issue involves Food Products, Australia's Biosecurity Agency can follow-up complaints. If we don't tell them, how are they going to be able to protect us and Australia? As I said, I think most manufacturers want to do the right thing, they want to keep their businesses operating BUT there are always the odd, rare, Rotten Apples who simply do not care and it is essential they get closed down or their products be banned from entering Australia - or any other country for that matter. Like you, I had that large, thick dark brown thing in a packet of Chips/Potato Crisps. It was proven to be safe as it was a thick slice of potato which had got caught and refried numerous times until it was small enough to get through. BUT you still need to report it, if possible have the pack it came in as they have Batch Numbers and other information which make it possible for the Maker to identify the machine the product was made on.
                                                                                                                                      ·
                                                                                                                                      • I think today it might be quantity (to bring in the money) over quality
                                                                                                                                        ·
                                                                                                                                        • Yes. Found a big piece of plastic in my potato chips. I got a new bag for replacement. Quality control has gone waaaaaaay down.
                                                                                                                                          ·
                                                                                                                                          • No...and Coles would not like me much if I did!
                                                                                                                                            ·
                                                                                                                                            • I don't agree with you. I think Coles would be delighted to know if the products they were selling were not up to scratch and they would probably send you something as an apology and thank you.
                                                                                                                                              ·
                                                                                                                                            • APBBugalugs
                                                                                                                                              You are more than welcome to disagree with me...and I'm confident that "delighted" would not be one of the responses that they would give..... as for any compensation...well...it must be nice living in your world...
                                                                                                                                              ·

                                                                                                                                          No comments
                                                                                                                                          AboutForumPrivacyUser agreementContact UsBusiness Page