One thing you don’t want when you get your groceries home from the store is a surprise. That’s especially true of things that come pre-packaged. You just have to trust that what’s on the label is what’s inside the jar/box/pouch/bottle.
Unfortunately, one mother in Britain is pretty sure she got a surprise in a jar she brought home from the grocery store, and it has her fuming.
We’ve all come home from the grocery store and realized that we accidentally picked out the wrong item.
There are so many labels that are so similar, and it’s an easy mistake that can happen.
However, that was not the case for one mom from the UK.
She definitely chose the right product, but something was very off about it that made her confused, very angry and distraught.
Rianne Ward of Derby thought she’d made a good, solid purchase.
The jar of creamy lasagne sauce she had intended to use for a nice pasta dish for herself and her son said it was vegetarian on the label, so it should have been harmless.
However, she told DerbyshireLive that she thought something was wrong when she “smelt something odd” about the sauce.
And it didn’t get any better upon tasting it, either.
And it wasn’t that the sauce had expired, but rather that it tasted of bacon.
For Rianne and her son, who are Muslim, consuming pork products like bacon is forbidden.
Rianne says her son noticed the particular taste right away.
Understandably, this was very upsetting to Rianne, as she felt that she had betrayed her religion, even though it wasn’t her fault.
“I just sat down and my young son said, ‘Mummy, this smells like bacon,'” she said.
“When I ate it, it tasted just like bacon, which made me feel sick. I was absolutely seething and went back down to the store.”
“I just went in with the jar of sauce and made them smell it. I thought it must have been contaminated.”
It’s already frustrating to feel that you’re not getting what the label says you are supposed to be getting, but it’s even worse when one’s religious practices are affected.
Rianne hasn’t been a Muslim her whole life, having converted seven years ago, so she knows what bacon tastes and smells like.
“I’m absolutely furious,” she said. “I’ve been a Muslim for years now and avoided bacon for so long.”
“Then this happens. I felt like I’d betrayed my religion.”
It turned out that the pasta sauce was definitely not rotten, but there was one ingredient in there that would be a cause for alarm.
Aldi, the grocery chain where Rianne bought the sauce, says it has a smokey flavor but contains no meat.
“We are sorry to hear Miss Ward is unhappy with this product and can reassure her the lasagne sauce is completely meat free,” a spokesperson said.
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“The product is flavored with smoked salt, which gives it its distinctive taste.”
I would hope that this would be specifically included in the label.
But clearly, this potent ingredient wasn’t very transparent.
But Rianne is still not convinced.
“There was no bacon in it because it had a vegetarian label but a staff member kept telling me it was a carbonara sauce,” she said. “It isn’t. It’s just a white sauce but that shouldn’t explain why it tastes like bacon.”
And so, she has lodged a formal complaint and says the company will do a lab test on the sauce to see if it was contaminated.
She is also being extra careful and not taking any chances during the investigation process.
She’s also keeping some of the sauce in her fridge as evidence.
She’s hoping the store will be able to compensate her for the trouble.
h/t DerbyshireLive
