Bugs Found In ShopRite Frozen Broccoli, 2 NJ Women Say

TOMS RIVER, NJ — Two New Jersey women who say they've found worms or bugs in frozen broccoli florets bagged under the ShopRite brand are trying to alert other customers to the issue.

"If you buy ShopRite frozen veggies, check them before eating them!" McKenzie Somers of Toms River wrote on Facebook on Wednesday. "Last night, I found bugs in the broccoli! I contacted Shoprite, and they are 'looking into it.' "

Caitlin McCarraher of Millville had a similar find two weeks ago, and posted video to Facebook. "Never again will I go to ShopRite," she wrote. "Second occurrence," adding she'd had a prior issue with another product.

Friday evening, Wakefern officials responded to Patch's report with the following statement: "We sincerely regret the inconvenience these customers experienced. Produce is harvested fresh from the fields and while natural occurrences such as this do happen, they are rare and usually detected. Our customer care center did address the specific complaint with the customer and provided her with a credit for a future purchase."

It was not clear which woman they were referring to, however.

Though both women referred to them as worms, the dead bugs appear to be caterpillars, and the women found them in several bags of ShopRite's Steam-in-Bag frozen broccoli florets.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which oversees food safety issues with fresh and frozen produce, sets "commodities and defect action levels" — levels of bug parts, mold, grit and other less-than-pleasant items in food. The action for frozen broccoli is 60 or more bugs per 100 grams of frozen broccoli. The defect warning specifies aphids, thrips and/or mites, but makes no specific mention of caterpillars or worms.

The FDA calls it an aesthetic concern, "offensive to the senses," but not a health threat.

Still, the FDA says consumers concerned about something they find in their food should not consume it and should report the issue to their local FDA consumer complaint coordinator, Peter Cassell, a press officer for the FDA said. (You can click here to find the local FDA coordinator.)

Somers said she was chopping up the broccoli to add to a casserole when she saw the worms – and not just a couple, but throughout the bag. "I said to my husband, 'What's that?!' "

McCarraher, in an interview Thursday evening, said she and her daughter had actually eaten some of the broccoli before she noticed them in mid-April. Thursday evening she and her husband heated another package of florets and opened it, filming the entire process. They found caterpillars in that bag as well. "I will never look at broccoli again," she said.

Somers, who discovered the ones in her broccoli Tuesday, said she remembered seeing a post circulating on Facebook from McCarraher, who she was not previously friends with, and contacted her. The two women compared notes and found something in common: the same lot number on their bags of broccoli, of April 08 20 MB3.

"I had bought two other bags, and one (of those) had the same lot number," Somers said. When she and her husband checked that bag, it too had worms, she said. "I'm afraid to check the other bag," she said with a laugh.

Somers, who moved to the Silverton section of Toms River from Long Branch about a month ago, said she bought the broccoli at the Brick ShopRite on April 29. When she called the store to report the issue, however, she was left with the impression that the store personnel weren't very concerned.

"They said, 'we'll pass it along to quality control,' " she said. Later she sent photos to ShopRite through the company's Facebook page, and said she received a similar response.

McCarraher said when she called ShopRite, "they told me they were sorry and there wasn't anything they could do."

"I get that worms come in vegetables all the time," she said. "But not maggots. Especially if it’s frozen. Frozen vegetables should have been cleaned and checked before being packaged. In the produce section, I would totally understand."

Caterpillars in broccoli heads are not uncommon; several websites geared to gardeners and those who buy organic produce recommend soaking fresh broccoli, cauliflower, Brussel sprouts and asparagus in cold salt water for several minutes to make it easier to rinse out caterpillars.

The most common caterpillars found on broccoli are cabbage worms, which are velvety green caterpillars when they are alive; cabbage loopers, which are smooth and light green, and diamondback worms, which are smaller in size and pale green in color when they are alive. All three are the larvae of moths or butterflies, according to the Gardening Know How website.

On the Chowhound website, a question posed about whether they are dangerous to eat drew several responses pointing out that the caterpillars are "a sign that your produce is chemical-free, because spray would have killed them," wrote a user named Kajikit. "They represent no possible danger to human beings whatsoever, even if you accidentally ate one. They're not going to lay eggs until they turn into butterflies and fly away. They're totally harmless."

Another user on that site, named woodwork27, joked, "Not only are they harmless, they are absolutely delectable. I harvested a bunch of them this morning and steamed them with a small broccoli floret. With the broccoli you cant even tell that your eating them. Alone they are like eating little broccoli-flavored shrimp. When steamed they firm right up and have a nice snap to them."

That person may be alone in finding them appealing, however.

"I was lucky enough to be chopping the broccoli," Somers said. "I could have been eating these. Usually I just steam the broccoli and eat it with a little butter."

"I always loved broccoli," McCarraher said. "My favorite veggie! Now I think of it and wanna puke. It’s a shame because everything I ate had broccoli in it. Broccoli and cheddar soup, Alfredo with broccoli, broccoli and cheese bites ... everything! I loved it until this happened."

Her video from the April incident is below:

Note: This article was updated Friday evening with comment from officials of Wakefern, the parent company of ShopRite. Photos provided by McKenzie Somers and Caitlin McCarraher, used with permission