Thread: Unsure How Bird's Head Got in Beans

EATON, Ind. - The manager of an Indiana canning plant said Monday that he did not know how it could have produced a can of pinto beans with a bird's head inside as claimed by an Illinois woman.

Chicago-based La Preferida Inc. announced a voluntary recall on Friday of a limited number of its cans as it investigated how the head ended up in the 15-ounce can.

David Morrow, general manager of Eaton-based Meridian Foods, said he was eager for answers about the discovery last week by a DeKalb, Ill., woman who reported buying the can at a grocery store in nearby Aurora, Ill.

"We don't know anything, and we are waiting on the results of tests," Morrow told The Star Press of Muncie. "We have procedures in place to prevent these things from happening, and we have reviewed those procedures."

A canning company for 40 years, Meridian has been owned by Clinton, Mich.-based Eden Foods since 1994. Meridian is Eden's sole canning plant.

The 29-employee plant about 10 miles north of Muncie packs about a dozen varieties of cooked-in-the-can beans.

The La Preferida beans covered by the recall have the lot number 5348 MF on the can lids. The batch was canned Dec. 14 and is marked by a best-buy date of Dec. 14, 2007, La Preferida said.

hmm, interesting. wonder if it smelled like chicken :?