"fly" news and stories

A Florida woman got more than she bargained for when she opened a can of Chicken of the Sea tuna. She claims to have found a black fly embedded in a chunk of fish, WTFV Eyewitness News reports.

Vanessa Winter of Altamonte Springs, Fla., told the news she opened the can of tuna last week and was shocked to find the insect inside. She bought the can, one of a four-pack, at a local Publix supermarket.

"I lifted the tin on the first one. It looked like a little black thing in there, and I thought it was the skin," Winter told Slashfood. "I put the fork in there to lift out the skin ... when it fell off the fork, it fell on its side and that's when I was able to see it was a fly."

Winter told Slashfood Chicken of the Sea asked her to send them the tuna at her own expense and said she'd be reimbursed. She said the FDA contacted her and asked for the tuna instead.

It's that time of year, the time to look back on the stories that made 2005 great. Our countdown began with God and TV, then touched on the weird and the wonderful. Finally, that most American of all themes: the lawsuit.

There are more than a few people out there who continue to give lawyers a bad name. Some of them are the lawyers who take on what many people deem to be frivolous lawsuits. Sometimes it is the lawyers who take it upon themselves to speak up for people and protest what they perceive is a legal violation or some sort. These may not be all the legal battles caused by food this year, but they certainly were noteworthy ones, whether they deserved to be or not.

1. Silver dragées. This lawsuit isn’t new to 2005, but it is ongoing nevertheless. A California lawyer had essentially managed, much to the chagrin of bakers in the state, to block the sale of little, silver cake decorating balls in the state in a suit against candy makers and bakers. He cites health risks despite the fact that there has never been a documented case of poisoning from silver dragée consumption.

2. Bottled Fly Trauma. In , a hairstylist and his wife were awarded more than $300,000 after finding a fly in a bottle of water. Neither the man nor his wife consumed any water and, in fact, the bottle was unopened. The couple mentioned that they were “plagued by nightmares [and lost] of their sense of humour” as a result of the incident.