Photo: Courtesy FOX 2
Grimes, of Troy, Mich., told Slashfood she noticed something moving inside the package as she was getting ready to make a salad for dinner.
"I didn't know what I was seeing but sure enough, I looked a little closer and there was a small light green tree frog, happy as can be, crawling around, living life in the bag of lettuce," she said Tuesday. "I just sort of gasped a bit, and then I stared and just remember thinking 'That's not right.'"
Grimes decided to keep the frog -- still in the bag of lettuce -- for three days in the garage, stored in a paper bag. "I didn't really want it in my house," she said.
A FOX 2 camera crew came on Monday to document Grimes opening the bag. The video clip shows the frog leaping out of the lettuce and onto the kitchen counter.
While the Grimes children wanted to keep the frog as a pet, the family released it into their backyard.
Kroger spokesman Dale Hollandsworth said that the grocery chain has never before had reports of frogs found in bags of the chain's lettuce.
"We're obviously very surprised that that little thing survived harvesting. It survived trimming. It survived washing. It survived cooling the product to 40 degrees and then being in the package," he told Slashfood. "I hope that's a tribute to how gently we handle our lettuce when we're harvesting and cleaning it."
Hollandsworth offered the Grimes family an apology and said the store would replace the romaine lettuce. He offered his backyard pond as a potential home for the frog.
Grimes, however, doesn't foresee Kroger lettuce in her future. "I certainly won't be buying this grocery store's lettuce ever again."
And her son has also grown leery of salad. "Literally as the reporter and the camera were leaving, my son said 'I'm never eating lettuce again,'" she said. "I thought 'Oh boy.'"
Have you ever found a foreign object in your food? Spill it in the comments below.
11-03-2009 @4:42PM Gary said... Get ready for the lawsuit!
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11-03-2009 @5:40PM amanda said... I think this would scare the poop out of me, and then I'd fall into a fit of hysterical laughter about it.
Poor little Kermit went for an unexpected trip!
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1-18-2010 @3:38PM Joey said... Once, when I was like 7, way, way back in like 1997, my mom found some sort of little baby snake crawling around in a grapefruit from Food Lion, she was prepping for my dad at the time...That was pretty scary at the time. But other than that, no.
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11-03-2009 @5:59PM cathy said... well, at least she found the whole frog in the lettuce. http://newsy1.wordpress.com
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11-03-2009 @7:59PM Nancy Seyfried said... When my daughter, now 23, was about 8, we found a very similar little tree frog, about the size of a nickle, inside a stalk of celery. We too was amazed, and glad to find the whole one and not half of one! It was Dole celery. I called the Dole company who sort of gave me the brush off like I was seeing things. I didn't call Kroger because I didn't really see it as their problem. The kids got some crickets for it to eat at a pet store, but they were as big as the frog, so he (?) eventially died. It has been a real conversation item over the years. Now we know that it really does happen,once or twice every 15 years or so!
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11-11-2009 @11:55PM boss sauce said... Was it crunchy?
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11-03-2009 @9:27PM Adam Fields said... I buy greens almost exclusively from farmer's markets, and they sometimes have snails and things in them. What's the big deal? It's not like they served you a scorpion. People need to get a grip about where their food comes from.
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11-04-2009 @1:04AM Christina said... I don't get why this is a problem. Isn't it a testament to how fresh the lettuce is and how mild the pesticides are or how pesticide free the lettuce is? I've found snails on my kale before, and have sometimes found little bugs--that's one of the reasons I wash my produce.
It's not like there was something that doesn't naturally occur in a manufactured product. It's ridiculous that she wouldn't buy their lettuce again, and even more ridiculous that she would call a camera crew to document it.
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11-04-2009 @6:51AM AC said... This woman is insane. It's just a little frog, for heaven's sake. Granted he shouldn't have been in there, but I'm more worried about the poor little frog than this crazy woman.
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11-04-2009 @7:18AM grace.panetta said... poor little frog, he must have been so confused. but still that is kinda funny.
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11-04-2009 @7:26AM Shelley said... We once found cardboard in a fishstick.
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11-04-2009 @7:27AM Laurie said... The same thing happened to me about 6 months ago in cauliflower. Only the frog was smashed and dead. Scared me to death. Have not had cauliflower since and never will!
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11-04-2009 @7:31AM lisa said... LOL the same thing happened to me years ago, a tree frog in my lettuce. It took me so much by surprise because I was chopping the head (of lettuce) with a butcher knife when I saw it moving. I had no idea what it was or even how big of a creature it was, so I wrapped the plastic back around it, and ran out of the house screaming with the lettuce in my outstretched arms. The best part was my kids never looked up from the Power Rangers as I ran past.
Once I got the frog out of there and thanked God that I hadn't whacked it, the kids and I let it go in the woods.
Our local grocery never offered a free replacement, they said there would be no charge for the frog. I kid you not.
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11-04-2009 @7:42AM Desert Owl said... I just had to say this after reading about the frog,the person who wrote comment #7,It is great that your a soldier and all,but dont you think you should you should be thinking about something else when you are reading about a frog in someones lettuce?,get a grip!ha,ha,ha!
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11-04-2009 @7:43AM Bdon said... I once found an entire herd of bowl weevils in a box of grape nuts, they slowly munched the cereal down to a powdered form before I realized what i was eating. I also found a 13 inch salamander living inside a sealed can of Mixed fruit. Amazing! But thats not all..... I also found a litter of fresh-born kittens in a sealed bag of kitty litter!
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11-04-2009 @7:52AM Judy Johnson said... I can't imagine why there would be any basis for a lawsuit. Although I'm sure this woman will be inundated with letters, calls and even visits from money-hungry lawyers who will try to talk her into suing, I hope she keeps her wits about her and rejects their efforts. These little creatures (frogs, not lawyers) are found naturally in produce and this one survived processing. Good for the frog!
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11-04-2009 @8:12AM PuterPutzer said... What's the problem? It's a wood frog not a tree frog.
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11-04-2009 @8:14AM Jennifer said... When will some people realize that we are not the only creatures on this planet. We do on occasion cross pathes with them.
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11-04-2009 @8:14AM joe said... AOL needs to learn how to spell. The header to click on reads creature found in bad of salad. Bad indeed.
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1-09-2010 @3:22AM kaysimone1 said... It is a "Bag" of salad not a "Bad" of salad. Are there no proof readers at AOL?
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