Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 18, 1993 TAG: 9306180265
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LARRY W. BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The woman, who has asked to remain anonymous, said she discovered the condom in mayonnaise purchased from Winn-Dixie in Vinton. She contacted the customer service line for Kraft Foods and the Agriculture Department.
Authorities would not elaborate Thursday on the condition of the condom, how long the woman had it, whether the woman had eaten some of the product before her discovery, or whether the mayonnaise jar was sealed when she purchased it.
"In any kind of situation, we reserve judgment . . . until we investigate the complaint," said Linda Eatherton, manager of communications at Kraft Foods' Chicago headquarters. She said the company will retrieve the jar to study in its laboratory. "We have no reason to believe there is any danger to the consumer."
Mark Tubbs, director of the Division of Dairy and Foods for the state Agriculture Department, said his department alerted the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Kraft Foods.
The woman who made the complaint suggested she was not interested in any legal action or publicity, Tubbs said.
The woman told investigators she purchased the mayonnaise from "a Winn-Dixie in Vinton," according to Tubbs.
The Winn-Dixie store in Vinton is at the River Park Shopping Center on Virginia 24 near Hardy Road.
A food inspection agent went to the woman's home and "observed what appeared to be a condom in a 32-ounce jar of Kraft mayonnaise," Tubbs said.
The agent confiscated the jar, then collected two remaining jars from the store's shelf for analysis, Tubbs said.
A manager at the store, who declined to give his name, said he was unaware of the woman's complaint or the confiscation of the mayonnaise from his store.
Phil Woodruff, a spokesman for Winn-Dixie stores, said he had not been told anything about the situation.
"We have every reason to believe it was an isolated incident," said Eatherton at Kraft Food.
She warned against alarming consumers. Some of the claims about foreign objects in cans of Pepsi-Cola are now being debunked, though many of those tampering allegations remain to be investigated.
Eatherton claimed that 90 percent of product-tampering claims that Kraft Foods receives turn out to be false.
"We treat complaints very seriously. . . . We look at the validity and the severity," she said. "Most of them are not valid."
Tubbs said the FDA would investigate the manufacturing plant.
"We have to work with the FDA," Tubbs said. "They inspect the plants. [The mayonnaise] was manufactured in Glenview, Ill. The state or the FDA would have to take action against that plant."
Tubbs, too, cautioned against jumping to conclusions about the product before the investigation is complete.
by CNB