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UPDATE, April 21, 5:21pm EST:

Posting in the comments section to this story, below, Con Agra spokesperson Stephanie Moritz writes:

As a spokesperson for ConAgra Foods, I want to share that after inspection, we can assure with certainty that the substance in the can is not any type of animal, but mold, likely from damage to the can in shipping. Regardless, it's not acceptable for a consumer to receive a product in that condition. We are working with her, and we are investigating the cause of the mold.

Scripps confirms, today, with a statement from another spokesperson at ConAgra, Dave Jackson:

"It's not an animal of any kind, that it is most likely mold. We will confirm this with a series of tests we'll be doing over the next two days."

"Sometimes a very small piece of damage to a can that would be very difficult for a customer to see, but we have the ability to test and determine, could lead to something like this. We do believe this is an isolated incident. It is not acceptable for a consumer to receive a product in this condition."

So we can close the file on that one.

Original story, below:

(Scroll down for home video of the allegedly tainted Chef Boyardee Spaghetti & Meatballs can. UPDATE: Video has been removed from YouTube.)

Story continues below

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An Ohio women who opened a can of Chef Boyardee spaghetti and meatballs for her daughter claims to have found not spaghetti and meatballs:

"I opened it up and my face was very close to it and immediately you could tell there was a dead rodent on top, in fact you couldn't even see the spaghetti and meatballs at all," said Jennifer Aker.

Jennifer contacted ConAgra, the manufacturer of the product, who asked for a photo of the tainted goods. Instead, Aker's nephew shot a video of the can and its contents and put it on YouTube. The video is below.

ConAgra, who is reportedly sending a courier to retrieve the product to conduct tests on it, has asked Aker to freeze the contents of the can in the meantime.

Con Agra has released the following statement in response to the potential time bomb of a dead rodent in its canned food:

"We take all consumer inquires seriously, and when a consumer has a bad experience, we work with them to determine the source of the problem and correct it. We also work with them to make up for their experience as best as we are able."

Said Jennifer Aker:

"I'm not looking for money, I'm just looking to let people be aware of this. It's just really gross."

Here's the video of the can its contents, shot by Jennifer's nephew Daniel:

Comments

[katt40]

I have listened to all of these comments and people are entitled , however when and if this happens to you, GOOD LUCK!

[katt40]

check out "disgusting chunks found in chef boyardee". It happened in Florida this week and was on Fox news. Does that look like mold also???????

[DavidFlores]

Yup, most likely mold I'd say. Indeed, I once opened a can of Chef Boyardee ravioli and saw the exact same thing. Yech!

[Jimboy17]

Why in the love of all that is holy would you ever, ever eat any of these "products"?

[SlurmsMcKenzie]

because there is nothing holy and people got to eat.

[Jimboy17]

That's the worst apology for crappy products spawned out of consumer capitalism that I have ever heard. Dog food is made with more care. If people have to eat, then by all means, let us stop predicating our food production systems on wastefulness and tastelessness.

And in food, there are things that are holy. Freshness, seasonality, local sourcing, wild...

[katt40]

This is not fake. The consumers were told by Conagra "thankyou for your input" and sent coupons for more of their tastee product.

[JMK62]

Enough with this story. It has been on here all week and it is really grossing me out just to look at the picture.

[peskime]

Um,, That's ok then ConAgra Factory Food Giant

[David Rozgonyi]

Enough mold to make it look like a rat.... how exactly is this ANY better???

[yjbeach94]

It is MOLD....

Here is a link to the video. All of you that spread the rumors; need to do a simple google search and figure stuff out for yourself.

http://www.droidforums.net/forum/off-topic-forum/39407-woman-finds-rat-chef-boyardee-can.html

[Jimboy17]

Mold is actually worse than rat.

[sisyphus93]

There certainly was nothing in the picture that looked like a rat. Nevertheless, there is not much difference between a can of Chef Boyardee spaghetti and meatballs with a rat, and one without, is there?

[newtom]

The one with the rat would have a heck of a lot more meat in it.

[OMG1]

The sad thing is of course the poor rat but also that the rat was probably the healthiest thing in the whole can. Canned rat would probably be better for you than Chef Boyardee.

[OMG1]

I didn't some research and unless this is a rare new species of mold.... no known mold species has ears or feet. The person opening the can saw the ears and feet and so did those who saw they video online before Chef Boyardee forced it off Youtube with legal action.

[newtom]

They "claimed" they saw ears and/or feet. Ears and feet really don't look alike, now do they? They were watching a fuzzy video on low-res computer monitor (or worse, a tiny iphone screen). Of course, the woman who claims to have seen ears and feet upon opening the can was probably in a state shock which would diminish her senses.

[PollyTics]

If you look at the full screen version of the video, there's no doubt that is no mold, but a poor ole rat/mouse caught in the canning process.

Any manufacturer is going to claim it's mold if the customer doesn't have the evidence to present to a third party. Who in their right mind would admit to a rat in their food rather than mold. Certainly not a conglomerate named ConAgra, that is most certain!

Just call it Spaghetti and Ratballs....yumm!

[JFaye]

Meat and pasta in a can ... high sodium rat, mold with high fructose corn syrup ... what's the difference? In all likelihood someone is feeding this crap to children ...

[Natashacrk]

My thoughts exactly!

[blaharumph]

it had ears and feet...

[lvadpro]

The mouse in the beer trick didn't work very well for Bob and Doug McKenzie, either.

[SlurmsMcKenzie]

fanned for the reference to a fine movie,hoser !