Dead frog in potato chips, live cobra in Amazon box: 7 bizarre things found in food and parcels

A dead frog found inside a packet of potato wafers in Gujarat's Jamnagar and (right) a live snake found stuck onto an Amazon package delivered in Bengaluru. (Image credit: @HashimMirz82582/X, ANI)

It has been two weeks of unpleasant finds for customers shopping online and offline in the country with pictures of severed fingers in ice-creams, dead frogs in packets of chips and even a live snake -- speculated to be a cobra -- wrapped around an Amazon package going viral on social media.

Here's a breakdown of the four instances when people got more than what they paid for:

1.) Dead frog found in a packet of potato chips

A dead frog was allegedly found in a packet of potato wafers in Gujarat’s Jamnagar on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, Jasmin Patel of Gujarat's Jamnagar claimed that his nine-month-old daughter and four-year-old niece ate some of the wafers before they spotted the dead frog inside the packet. His niece had bought the Balaji Wafers 'Simply Salted' packet from a local shop, he added.

An official of the Jamnagar Municipal Corporation said that the samples of the production batch of the wafer packet will be collected as part of the probe.

A dead frog in a packet of Balaji Aalu chips
Gujarat - In a shop in Jam Nagar, a customer took a packet of alu chips made by Balaji Wafers and opened it and found a dead frog in it. Civil Supplies Department ordered an investigation based on the customer's complaint. pic.twitter.com/ZFaJjpVlpZ

— Hashim Mirza@Journalist (@HashimMirz82582) June 19, 2024

2.) Metal blade found in food served by Air India

A passenger of an Air India flight from Bengaluru to San Francisco found a piece of metal blade in his meal. Taking to social media, the flyer Mathures Paul said that he realised the presence of the blade in his food only after chewing on it for a while and spitting it out. "Air India food can cut like a knife," he wrote. "Hiding in its roasted sweet potato and fig chaat was a metal piece that looked like a blade. I got a feel of it only after chewing the grub for a few seconds. Thankfully, no harm was done."

Air India food can cut like a knife. Hiding in its roasted sweet potato and fig chaat was a metal piece that looked like a blade. I got a feel of it only after chewing the grub for a few seconds. Thankfully, no harm was done. Of course, the blame squarely lies with Air India’s… pic.twitter.com/NNBN3ux28S

— Mathures Paul (@MathuresP) June 10, 2024

 Confirming the incident, a spokesperson for the airline later blamed a vegetable processing machine for the same. Tata Group-run Air India was once considered the ‘Maharajaa’ of hospitality in the Indian aviation sector.

3.) Mumbai doctor finds human finger in ice-cream cone ordered online

A 27-year-old doctor in Mumbai, Brendan Ferrao, was shocked to find a severed human finger in a Yummo Ice Cream's butterscotch cone ordered by his sister via the grocery delivery app Zepto. As per a report in Free Press Journal, after eating half of the ice cream, Ferrao sensed something unusual on his tongue and discovered the finger, about 2 cm long. A picture shared online showed the body part sticking out of the dessert.

His sister immediately reported the incident to the police. Initial investigations confirmed the presence of a human finger, which has since been sent for forensic examination.

Mumbai doctor finds a human finger in the ice cream she ordered through a food delivery app pic.twitter.com/NGXn7Re1fr

— Waseem ವಸೀಮ್ وسیم (@WazBLR) June 13, 2024

4.) Bengaluru techie couple to finds live cobra in Amazon package

A couple in Bengaluru was left horrified after discovering a live cobra inside a package they had ordered online from Amazon on Sunday. The couple, both software engineers, had ordered an Xbox controller, but instead received a venomous snake in the delivery.

The snake, suspected to be a spectacled cobra, was immobilised by the packaging tape, preventing it from causing any harm. The couple captured the incident on video and shared it on social media, expressing their shock and frustration.

Couple orders Xbox from Amazon, finds cobra in package.

Snake was stuck to the packaging tape, hence did not harm anyone & it has been safely released away from public.

Beware next time when you open your packages : B'luru.pic.twitter.com/YOj1Cj29Yw

— Dr. Vedika (@vishkanyaaaa) June 19, 2024

"We ordered an Xbox controller two days ago from Amazon and received a live snake in the package. The package was directly handed over to us by the delivery partner, not left outside. We live on Sarjapur Road and captured the entire incident on camera, plus we have eyewitnesses," the customer recounted.

5.) Dead mouse found in Hershey's chocolate syrup

An Instagram user shared a video of having discovered a dead mouse in a bottle of Hershey’s chocolate syrup ordered through the quick commerce platform Zepto. Prami Sridhar recounted how three members of her family consumed the contaminated syrup, resulting in one needing medical attention. “This is extremely concerning and unacceptable. We worried about the health risks and the lack of quality control," she wrote.

Responding to this Herhey's commented: "Hi there, we are very sorry to see this. Please send us the UPC and manufacturing code from the bottle to consumercare@hersheys.com with the reference number 11082163 so one of our team members can assist you!"

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Prami Sridhar (@pramisridhar)

6.) Centipede found in Amul ice-cream

On June 15, Noida resident Deepa Devi complained on social media on June 15 about finding "an insect" inside a tub of Amul ice cream she bought via Blinkit. In a press release, Amul stated, "We deeply regret the inconvenience caused to her because of this incident." 

The company, however, added that Devi was not cooperating with the investigation. "During our meeting with the customer, we had requested the customer to provide the said ice cream tub for investigation, unfortunately, the customer refused to hand over the same. Unless the complaint pack is retrieved from the customer it would be difficult for us to investigate the matter and hence comment specifically on the issue which involves pack and supply chain integrity as well," Amul added in the release.

7.) Man receives sealed, empty glass instead of lime soda

This, however, is a case of getting less than what was ordered. A customer received a sealed empty glass instead of a lime soda delivered by Swiggy and his hilarious tweet went viral quickly. The customer, Aaraynsh, took to social media to share his incredulous experience with a picture of the glass.

The photo shows the customer holding a transparent, empty plastic container, still sealed. "Thanks, Swiggy, for sending me a sealed empty glass. I hope my lime soda will come in another order," he wrote sarcastically. The post has garnered over 2,50,000 views including Swiggy’s.

Thanks, Swiggy, for sending me a sealed empty glass. I hope my lime soda will come in another order. pic.twitter.com/EsK9PBfYgy

— Aaraynsh (@aaraynsh) June 18, 2024

In response, Swiggy wrote: "Hi Aaraynsh! That seems odd, can you help us with your order ID? We’ll look into this," the company replied. Aaraynsh later confirmed that the issue had been resolved, stating, "Thanks, resolved now, received a refund of Rs 80 for soda worth Rs 120."