OT: Woman claims nutshell from Wal-Mart contained condom

[Guest guest]

too funny - hopefully it was a new one

Sheri

http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20060104/NEWS/101040032

Woman claims nutshell from Wal-Mart contained condom

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By Dennis Webb

Glenwood Springs correspondent

January 4, 2006

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RIFLE - A woman who lives near Silt says her husband found a condom in a

shell of one of the nuts she purchased in bulk at Wal-Mart in Rifle.

Diane Geist brought home the mixed nuts, still in their shells, over the

holidays. She said her husband, , discovered a condom in one on the

morning of New Year's Eve when he was reading a book and dining on some

nuts at their home south of Silt.

" My husband cracked open a hazelnut and a condom popped out. He couldn't

believe it. He just sort of sat there and stared at it and he said, 'You

wouldn't believe what I found in this nut,' " Geist said Tuesday.

She assumed he might have been talking about a bug. But it turned out to be

a bright-yellow condom, still rolled up, she said.

Geist said she called the Wal-Mart supercenter in Rifle, where she had

bought the nuts from a bulk bin about a week before Christmas, and spoke to

an assistant manager who told her how to contact the nut supplier, Diamond

Foods. The two also had a good laugh over the incident, Geist said.

" It's just too funny, " Geist said.

A Wal-Mart corporate spokeswoman, Burk, said Tuesday she thought it

odd that Geist hadn't brought the condom and nutshell pieces to the store.

" We have no way of knowing if this was indeed an actual incident, " she said.

" If that happened we certainly would want them to bring it to us and let us

look at it and investigate it. We would encourage that because we want to

make sure something like that doesn't happen, " she said.

Geist said she could understand Wal-Mart being skeptical.

" I would be too; it's crazy, " she said.

But she decided to make a trip to the store later Tuesday.

" I'll baggie up the evidence and run it down there, " she said.

Afterward, she reported that an assistant manager photographed the

evidence, then asked Geist what she should do next. Geist suggested

e-mailing the photo to corporate offices but also said she didn't want to

give up the condom.

" We probably won't throw it away for a while. It's too funny of a

souvenir, " she said.

But for now, the evidence is in police custody, after Geist decided she

should report the incident to Rifle police late Tuesday afternoon.

Police Chief Daryl Meisner said he hadn't had a chance to look into the

matter in depth but wasn't sure what laws were violated, if any.

" We're trying to figure out what we can do, if anything, " he said.

Vicki Zeigler, public relations manager for Diamond Foods, said tampering

with food is a federal offense.

" People that do that, it's pretty despicable, " she said.

Meisner said he has heard that condoms sometimes are distributed in

nutshells in bars around the country. He said he wonders if one of them

ended up in the Wal-Mart bulk bin.

As it turns out, the website www.thisistrue.com says Reuters reported an

incident in which an Ontario woman found a condom in a walnut from a

grocery store.

" Apparently, a nearby sex shop sells condoms in plastic nutshells, and

someone tossed one into the supermarket's bin as a joke, " the site says.

Told of that report, Meisner said, " I'm suspecting something like that

here, but I'm not sure how it got into a shell that doesn't appear to be

plastic. "

Burk and Zeigler both expressed surprise at a condom being able to fit into

the relatively small shell of a hazelnut. Geist agreed it was a tight fit.

She said her husband speculates that the shell had been cut in half and

glued back together.

Meisner, who didn't see signs of sawing or gluing, said he doesn't doubt

the Geists' story. Geist said it's not something she could have concocted

if she tried.

" It's so bizarre, I'm not clever enough to make up something that crazy, "

she said.

She said she has no interest in pursuing it from a legal standpoint.

" No one was in danger. It was just a practical joke, " she said.

Besides, she said, " I don't think a judge would give any money for a condom

in a nut. "

But she said the incident makes her wonder if other tampered nuts are out

there, and whether someone would put something dangerous in one. Both

Wal-Mart and Diamond Foods share that concern.

" We want to make sure we're only putting safe, quality products on our

shelves for our customers, " said Burk, Wal-Mart's spokeswoman.

" We're very, very dismayed and we do take it very seriously and we

definitely do investigate, " Zeigler said.

Neither she nor Burk was aware of similar incidents of tampering occurring

with the nuts they sell.

Zeigler said she hates to speculate, " but it could have been a prank played

by almost anybody. "

She said Diamond gets its hazelnuts from reliable companies and uses an

internal lab and constant inspections of its products.

" We know they're good when they leave our plant. Once they leave our

control, they're out of our control, " she said.

One problem with unpackaged products is that they are more susceptible to

tampering, she said. She said Diamond is moving toward more packaged nuts.

" We found that a lot of consumers prefer packaged products because of this

type of thing or just because it's in a sealed package, " she said.

" I know I'm not buying things out of a bin anymore, " Geist said. " It's kind

of creepy. "

But it could have been worse. At least the condom hadn't been used.

" Oh God, that would freak me out, " she said.

As for the rest of the nuts she had bought?

" My husband finished them off, " Geist said.

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Sheri Nakken, R.N., MA, Hahnemannian Homeopath

Vaccination Information & Choice Network, Nevada City CA & Wales UK

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