Solve this mystery

[Snoop]

This reminds me of the horse head scene in the Godfather:



DeKalb woman says she found a bird's head in a can of beans

By Chronicle Staff
DeKALB - Luz Marrufo said she was preparing dinner Wednesday night for her three children when she opened a can of beans and found a severed bird's head.

“When I opened it, I thought maybe it's a leaf or something, but then I got a spoon and I turned it around,” she said. “Then I saw the beak.”

Photos Marrufo took show what appears to be the head of a black bird with a yellow or orange beak submerged in whole pinto beans at the top of the can. She shared the photos and the can with the Chronicle on Thursday night at her DeKalb home.

Marrufo reported the find to the DeKalb Police Department, which reportedly told her to contact the DeKalb County Health Department. Marrufo said she was planning to drop the can off at the health department's office this morning.

The beans were sold under the La Preferida brand. The Chicago-based company mainly sells Mexican foods.

A statement released by La Preferida this morning and attributed to the company's director of quality assurance, David Brand, says, “La Preferida Inc. received a phone call yesterday from a person claiming to have found a foreign object in a La Preferida brand 15-ounce can of whole pinto beans ... La Preferida is working to confirm this report and has made several unsuccessful attempts with the person who called us to schedule a time to examine the product.”

The statement goes on to say that “as a precaution, La Preferida has contacted its supplier and is reviewing operations and food safety procedures.”

A spokesman for La Preferida, Bill Strong of Chicago public relations firm Jasculca/Terman and Associates, said the company is working with the DeKalb County Health Department to investigate the incident.

“It's very important that this be tested at an independent lab,” Strong said.

He said the company wants to send the can for testing at Washington, D.C.-based Food Products Association, a food and beverage industry trade association.

At about 8:30 a.m. today, health inspector Christel Springmire said she was going to examine the can today and notify the Illinois Department of Public Health if the can indeed contains a bird's head. She had not yet taken possession of the can by 10 a.m. today.

The IDPH then could send the can on to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Rockford office for analysis, she said.

She said the DeKalb County Health Department rarely receives calls about foreign objects in food. Most of them turn out to be machine parts from factories.

“When consumers open something and see something that doesn't belong there, they think, ‘Oh, my God, it's a mouse tail,'” she said. “When we look at it, we see it was a part from the conveyer belt.”

Marrufo, a 28-year-old DeKalb Clinic nurse's assistant, said she opened the 15-ounce can of beans to prepare them with scrambled eggs for dinner for her three boys, Lalo, 7, Jayson, 4, and Edwin, 2.

She said her kids love to eat beans and eggs with tortillas.

“Anything else, they won't eat,” she said. “I don't think we'll be eating beans for a long time, unless I make them.”

She said she purchased the can at an Aurora grocery on Saturday along with four or five others. The family has used at least two since then, she said.

“This is my favorite product,” she said. “I can't believe it, I can't open any other cans.”

Marrufo said she called the manufacturer, and a company representative advised her to freeze the product and offered to have someone pick it up Thursday night.

Instead, she decided to give it to the health department.

“If I give it to the company, they might try to cover up something,” she said. “If I give it to the health department, I know they'll investigate it.”

http://www.daily-chronicle.com/artic...ews/news01.txt
Bird head in can makes you a man - like a bird in hand is worth two in the bush?

Has anyone ever ate pinto beans?

Are there birds in Indiana?

[Snoop]

[PerVirtuous]

OK, Snoop. My guess is that they have sprayed so much insecticide on these bean plants that some of them have mutated and are growing into shapes that will keep predators away. What would keep aphids away better than growing in the shape of a bird's head? The aphids wouldn't dare land on you. That's all.

[southernbelle]

Ew!!!! Okay, I SO did not need to read this. I'm already so paranoid when it comes to food. It's interesting what people find though. My mom found a grasshopper in a can of green beans once. And I actually found a piece of rubber in a hot dog bun once. Needless to say...I don't buy that brand anymore. As to how the head got there?? Well, some employees of the pinto bean company were crow hunting inside the factory...Emilio said "hey, watch this..I bet I can shoot the head right off that crow." All the fellow employees made large wagers and Emilio pointed his gun and fired (at the crow, Emilio's no Dick Cheney)..off came the crow's head. Loud cheers came from those who bet on Emilio accompanied by low groans by those who didn't. Emilio decided to take home the little crow head and have it mounted; but, it could not be found. So, while "how did that get there?" is the mystery to us...it solves the mystery "where did that bird head go?" for Emilio and his friends.

[mrs_innocent]

I've found a grasshopper in a can of sweet peas. Aside from that, I prefer not to know of the various animals living (or dying for that matter) in the food I eat.

[PerVirtuous]

Ew!!!! Okay, I SO did not need to read this. I'm already so paranoid when it comes to food. It's interesting what people find though. My mom found a grasshopper in a can of green beans once. And I actually found a piece of rubber in a hot dog bun once. Needless to say...I don't buy that brand anymore. As to how the head got there?? Well, some employees of the pinto bean company were crow hunting inside the factory...Emilio said "hey, watch this..I bet I can shoot the head right off that crow." All the fellow employees made large wagers and Emilio pointed his gun and fired (at the crow, Emilio's no Dick Cheney)..off came the crow's head. Loud cheers came from those who bet on Emilio accompanied by low groans by those who didn't. Emilio decided to take home the little crow head and have it mounted; but, it could not be found. So, while "how did that get there?" is the mystery to us...it solves the mystery "where did that bird head go?" for Emilio and his friends.

Or it could have been that Dick Cheney WAS in the area of the factory.

[Snoop]

I think this is all related to the bird flu epidemic. They are rounding up millions of birds as we speak. http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&q=bird+flu

Don't be surprised if the bird head was infected.