I’ve tried to be a supporter of Winn-Dixie in the past. They’re the local store and their prices are normally a bit cheaper than Publix. But I think my years of shopping there are done with.
Earlier tonight, I had a snack of some Winn-Dixie brand toaster pastries. Basically, the Winn-Dixie store brand version of Pop Tarts. I decided not to toast them and was just going to eat them from the package. The side of the box even says they can be eaten slightly warmed from the toaster/microwave… or directly from the package.
They come two to the sleeve, and I first consumed one of the pastries… then a minute later went to remove the second one from the package. But I (thankfully) noticed something a little bit odd hanging onto the front. It looked kind of like an empty spider’s nest. No visible bugs, but something disgusting was certainly attached to the tart. Also, in this case, the product isn’t expired. The package is still fresh until November according to the label.
What is this? You be the judge…
Frankly, this isn’t the first time I’ve bought something disgusting at Winn-Dixie. About four years ago I purchased some frozen pizzas there, only to discover that they’d already gone (way) past their expiration dates. A little over two years ago, I purchased a package of soy cheese. When I got it home, it turned out that the cheese was so expired that it had turned to almost mush in the package. But at least I didn’t eat that. I did eat one of these pop tarts.
Supposedly, Winn-Dixie’s reputation of sub-par quality is what prompted their “Getting Better All The Time” campaign. And sure, the stores do look a bit nicer and are more brightly lit as of late. But that’s not helpful if there are spiders in the food.
I’m going to go downstairs and if I find any more Winn-Dixie brand products in my fridge or pantry… they’re going into the garbage.
For now, I am done shopping at Winn-Dixie.
August 8th, 2008 at 12:25 am
Actually, they look like worm larvae more than just spiderwebs.. are you sure that those came from a spider?
August 8th, 2008 at 12:27 am
No, not really. I just know it was something fairly disgusting.
I have been thinking spiders because it looked like a spider-web substance was on the tart itself.
What sort of a worm?
August 8th, 2008 at 12:38 am
I don’t know.. I don’t think I’d want to see the google image search of “worms on food.” the pictures here look more like a cocoon of some sort rather than a spider web to me. Hopefully you have someone with some degree of bug expertise that will stumble upon your blog.
August 8th, 2008 at 12:41 am
Well, whatever it is… I hope eating some of it won’t poison me.
More I think about it, I might save the box and bring it back to the Winn-Dixie I bought it at… they should know if they’re selling food with bugs of any sort in it.
Yuck.
August 8th, 2008 at 1:52 am
it might be a spider’s egg pouch or something.
man, i would not go back to whatever that store was.
August 8th, 2008 at 8:33 am
I would march into the store, demand to speak to the manager & show them the nastiness that they are selling. Then announce that they can sell bugs to their other customers, I will never shop in that store again or buy their brand name products. Even though they are cheaper, who wants to eat BUGS???
August 8th, 2008 at 9:33 am
boycott. I have never stepped foot in that store.
August 8th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
It always amazes me that people will spend time complaining about something rather then give a merchant the opportunity to fix the problem and getting a full refund.
I understand Winn Dixie doesnt make pop tarts themselves but purchases them from some food manufacturer like all other grocery stores do for their store brands. If enough people simply returned products that they not happy with (whether it be JC Penny, Winn-Dixie, Best Buy, whomever) for a full refund, the buyers for those companies will recognize inferior products are being supplied and will look to other suppliers to keep their customers happy and makes the store more profitable (fewer returns, errosion of goodwill and labor hours spent on these returns).
August 8th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
I think finding bugs in the food is a bit more than a normal customer problem. Winn-Dixie is a whole lot more likely to correct the problem because people are bringing it to the attention of the public and their customers than if someone just goes to the store and asks for a refund or replacement.
And trust me - I do not want a replacement box of pop tarts from Winn-Dixie.
August 9th, 2008 at 11:21 am
Yes. That is absolutely disgusting. I had an experience where I found a dead roach in my raisin cereal. Now that was not at Winn-Dixie, however it did permanently turn me off forever from raisin cereal.
August 10th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
What do you honestly expect from off brand pop-tarts…? maybe you should swear off boxed food instead of the manufacturers of food-like products
August 12th, 2008 at 6:45 am
yeah, I have been shopping there more than before. You REALLY need to check expiration dates though. A week or so ago I picked up a package of organic ground beef. It was expired. The meat person happend to be out there and I told him. He goes “oh really” and took the package to the back. I never have this problem at Publix. Is it that hard to pull expired product from shelves???????????????