Wednesday, May 13, 2009

There's wood in my granola bar!

Pretty cool response from the Quaker folks. I don't find the time to complain very often, unless I'm sitting in front of a computer, eating, and there's wood in my food. :) I kind of chuckled at their response about me asking to send the wood in to them.


Dear Quaker:
The numbers on my UPC code actually read 305080, however, the previous menu didn't accept that, so I left off the last zero. I was enjoying my daily Quaker Chewy 25% less sugar Chocolate Chip Granola bar today when I came across something that was not chewable. I pulled it out of my mouth and found three piece of what appear to be either wood or straw. It is not food, whatever it is, as it is too hard to bite into. I set them aside and later examined them and it does appear to be small slivers of either wood, straw or sticks of grain or something. I saved them, if you would like me to send them to you. Luckily I didn't swallow them as I'm sure that would not have been good. The edges of these foreign objects are sharp. Please let me know if you would like me to mail these to you. Thanks.


Rob:

We're sorry you found something in one of your Quaker Chewy Granola Bars that caused you concern. Your well-being and the reputation of our products for quality and safety are of the utmost importance to us. It's important that we know about your report and we're relieved to learn that you were not injured.

Many safeguards are in place in our plants to prevent foreign materials from coming into contact with the product. Screening equipment and inspection procedures should prevent an occurrence such as you reported. Our quality assurance team has been notified and your comments serve to stress the importance of our inspection procedures.

Please accept the coupons we've mailed you and our sincere apologies for any inconvenience related to this matter. Your coupons should arrive in about a week. Please be assured that we will always strive to produce high-quality products in which you can have complete confidence.

With regards to what you're holding on to, it won't be necessary for you to send them to us as we have all the information that's need for quality assurance. We thank you for thinking of us.

Thank you, Rob, for your business and loyalty to Quaker. We hope you'll continue to select and enjoy our products for many more years to come. After all, we know you have a choice of brands and always appreciate you choosing ours. We're confident your next Quaker Chewy Bar will offer you a pleasant experience.

Quaker Consumer Relations

18 comments:

  1. Hey, I eat those granola bars all the time! I'll have to keep my eye- mouth?- peeled for sharp objects... P.S. Have you tried the peanut butter chocolate chip ones? Seriously. Delicious.

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  2. I received in the mail today, 3 coupons for $4 off their products. Not bad, that's about 3 or 4 boxes. I guess that'll do. I still have the twigs on my desk at work.. I should take a picture of them. They could have given me belly slivers! I've never had those, and I don't want them either. I'll have to try the peanut butter chocolate chips.. that sounds awesome. Oh yeah, they also sent me a recipe for meat loaf. Wtf I said.. wtf. :p

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    1. Crazy because the same thing happened to us this past Friday. Causing me to break my tooth. They offered me coupons as well as conducting an investigation! The woman explained that NOTHING has ever been reported like this before. I did send them the 2 very sharp inch long pieces of wood that came out of my bar. I have 2 unopened bars left i also offered to send them. They said its not necessary. I cannot imagine the internal damage this could've done! You're a brave one for accepting the coupons as i will NEVER eat anything manufactured again!

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    2. Anonymous12:11 AM

      This just happened to me the other day! Bit into a chewy peanut butter choc dipped bar and pulled out splinters of wood! Have photos and never had anything like this happen before! Sent them an email and havnt heard anything yet. 5/18/22

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    3. Anonymous12:39 AM

      Almost choked on these straw looking twigs while eating their bar.

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  3. I would like to see the twig slivers. And meat loaf?? What does that have to do with anything? How odd...and very funny...

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  4. Twig slivers.. coming right up!

    http://thelastbestthing.com/Images/0529091134.jpg


    Yeah, a meat loaf recipe. Who knows. I can just imagine some guy reading my letter.. printing it, then stamping it with a "3 COUPONS AND A MEATLOAF RECIPE" stamp.. and shoving it down a tube to the mail room. haha

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  5. sucker. how many coupons for those wheat shafts in your granola?

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  6. I just wood in my granola bar and decided to google it...if I'm not the only one, maybe we have a lawsuit!

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  7. The weirdest part is, i bought the EXACT same brand and flavor you did with 25% less sugar...conspiracy, I'm sure! LOL

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  8. Anonymous4:12 PM

    They always have wood chips in their granola bars. I find that very often. :(

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  9. Well, I'm not alone then! I just found wood splinters in my Quaker granola bars too this weekend. Here's the story along with photos:

    http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r24939345-Found-wood-splinters-in-Quaker-granola-bar

    Quaker claims my case was the first they've ever heard of it, but reading your blog, it may happen more often than you might think.

    They claim it's fragments of the outer husk shell from the oats, not wood. Whatever it was, I'm glad I didn't swallow it. Got the same as you, they're sending me a couple of coupons. Not impressed.

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  10. I get the same problem all the time here in Victoria BC.

    Friday May 25th

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  11. Anonymous4:57 PM

    its not just quaker! mcdonalds' nature valley low fat crunchy granola packets that come with their fruit and yogurt parfaits have them too! It has to be something associated with the way granola is manufactured in general. The past two times I've gotten granola from mickey d's i've found wood chips, I'm going to call corporate, as for I used to work at Mickey D's so I'll know how to speak to them.

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  12. Anonymous9:09 PM

    The wood may have come from a filler called cellulose in food to bulk up the product and add more fiber. Essentially is is ground up wood. I found a piece of wood in a granola bar I was eating and did some research to see how the wood would have gotten in there. Here is a article listing some known products that add cellulose to their food. http://naturalsociety.com/15-companies-whose-products-contain-wood-pulp-cellulose/

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  13. Anonymous6:43 PM

    Im not sure how recent this article is. I was just eating a blueberry chewy yogurt granola bar and felt something odd in my mouth. When i pulled it out i came to realize it was little wood twigs. Seeing how lucky everyone else was so far as to not swallowing them, i was not so fortunate. I can feel one stuck in the side of my throat. Coupons are not going to make me a happy camper right know.

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    1. I had the same issue, twigs in my kind bar. Coupons aren't going to help me either. I also swallowed a Small piece as well and can feel a splinter or piece of it in my throat.NOT HAPPY!!

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    2. Anonymous11:45 PM

      Same thing just happened to my daughter. She was eating one of the quaker chewy granola bars and the sliver was stuck at the back of her throat. I was able to see it but my tweezers were not long enough to reach it. She gargled over and over again and it finally dislodged. I don't think I will ever eat another granola bar again no matter what after this and I hope she doesn't either.

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