LANSING STATE JOURNAL (Michigan) 20 October 10 Couple find veggies - with a side of frozen frog (John Schneider)
Grand Ledge: Sure, a person could freeze a frog, stick it into a bag of frozen mixed vegetables, cry foul - then look for a compensatory payoff.
That's not Tim Hoffman.
"I want to make it clear that I'm not after anybody," Hoffman said. "I don't want any money. This is not the Lotto. I don't want to make anybody look bad. I'm just thinking about the next person who comes along and buys a bag of frozen vegetables."
On Oct. 12, Hoffman and his wife, Marty, who live in Grand Ledge, bought the veggies at the Grand Ledge Meijer store. Around 6:30 the next morning, Hoffman was in the bathroom when Marty started screaming.
"Honey," she might have said, "there's a frog in our soup." But, actually, the frozen frog never made it that far.
"I'm just glad it was at the top of the pack, and not in the middle," Hoffman said.
Responding to my inquiry, Meijer spokesman Frank Guglielmi was eager to learn the details from Hoffman - exact product name, expiration date, package size, etc.
"We take this very seriously," Guglielmi said. "Our folks will investigate it."
Without addressing Hoffman's complaint specifically, Guglielmi ran through the possible scenarios that result in foreign objects in food products:
"Sometimes it's from the manufacturer; sometimes it's intentional on the part of the customer; sometimes the infestation occurs after the product arrives in the home."
Guglielmi added that Meijer, in its initial approach, always gives the customer the benefit of the doubt.
Hoffman did not initially report the frog to Meijer. He believed it was more a matter for the federal Food and Drug Administration, and phoned the FDA's district office in Detroit. The folks there took a report and assured Hoffman that somebody would get back to him.
On Tuesday, Hoffman, who hadn't received that follow-up call from the FDA, was dismayed that his complaint didn't cause a greater sense of urgency.
"What does it take for them to issue a recall? ...
"I am not dissing the store, farmer or packaging operation, I know these things can happen; after all, vegetables are grown outdoors. But what about the hundreds or thousands of bags of veggies from the same batch? Shouldn't (the FDA) tell someone ... ?"
Art Czabaniuk, acting director of the FDA's Detroit office, said Tuesday the investigation is "ongoing," and that somebody from his office contacted the Hoffmans on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, late Tuesday Meijer's Guglielmi sent me an e-mail that said in part: "We have issued a recall on this item (based on the lot code) in all our stores within the Lansing market (seven stores.)
"Additionally, our Grand Ledge store has opened and inspected the packages at their store, and found nothing out of the ordinary. We believe this is an isolated incident."
http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20101020/COLUMNISTS09/10200326
GRAND RAPIDS PRESS (Michigan) 22 October 10 Couple who found frog in frozen Meijer vegetables reject claims of setup, lawsuit: 'Just wanted the stuff off shelves'
Sure, finding a dead frog in her Meijer frozen veggies was shocking, but Marty Hoffman says she was stunned at how fast the unappetizing discovery leapt from one news website to another.
"I was in shock when the lady from the (NBC) 'Today' show called my husband," Hoffman said.
News of the Grand Ledge couple's discovery last week of a frog in a Meijer brand bag of frozen mixed vegetables has elicited a widespread chorus of "ewws."
"I'm learning what viral is," adds her husband Tim Hoffman, who contacted the media this week, after he said he alerted the Food and Drug Administration and the agency didn't respond to his report.
Last week, Marty Hoffman opened the bag to feed her dog, who is on a special diet of vegetables and meat to treat a skin condition. She had poured some of the veggies in a bowl when she spotted something she initially thought was a piece of asparagus.
"It was a stinky little toad, quite disgusting," said Marty Hoffman.
Both Meijer and the FDA are investigating.
The Walker-based supercenter chain pulled the product from its seven Lansing-area stores as a precaution, said spokesman Frank Guglielmi.
Employees opened all the packages with the same date and lot code at the Grand Ledge store and visually inspected all the bags. There were no problems discovered, Guglielmi added.
"This was frozen, processed vegetables, so they went through a processing facility."
The vegetables did not come from a local supplier, said Guglielmi. "We are pretty confident this is an isolated incident," he said.
He added the retailer doesn't suspect any tampering by the Hoffmans.
FDA spokesman Michael L. Herndon said Detroit district investigators took the dead frog complaint call on Oct. 13, but did not tell the Hoffmans when they would get back with them because they first needed to speak to Meijer and the manufacturer.
"The FDA takes all complaints seriously," Herndon said. "However, complaints associated with illness take a high precedent over all others. In this case, the public health risk was low given that there were no injuries and the product was not consumed."
Herndon said the FDA contacted Meijer on Monday, but it took until Tuesday to get from Meijer the name and location of the product's manufacturer. Also on Tuesday, Herndon said an FDA investigator called the Hoffmans to tell them an inquiry was underway.
On Wednesday, the federal investigators inspected the unidentified factory. Those results were not yet available.
Hoffman bristles at those who made online comments suggesting the couple planted the frog, or were attempting to capitalize on the incident.
"That's total nonsense," said Tim Hoffman. "There is no money, no lawsuits, no angry people. We didn't want our name out there. I just wanted the stuff off shelves."
Meijer has given them coupons to replace two 32-ounce bags of Meijer mix vegetables -- made up of corn, carrots and green beans -- they had bought, he said.
"We still shop Meijer," said Hoffman. "It's a good store."
http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2010/10/couple_who_found_frog_in_froze.html
