Shopper in Terror As Lid of Chicken Soup From Trader Joe’s Popped by Itself, Raising Contamination Concerns

Packaged chicken products may come with a high risk of contamination and it does not seem to be a strong point for renowned grocery chain, Trader Joe’s. A shopper named Kaitlyn who goes by @k..swag on TikTok recently posted a review of her chicken noodle soup purchased from the grocery store chain whose container was disfigured due to probable contamination from bacteria. The video has amassed over 566k views on social media. Trader Joe’s, a billion-dollar business, has been stained with controversy, from racially insensitive packaging to an overwhelming number of recalls of several products deemed unsafe for consumption, per the New York Post.

Trader Joe’s contaminated chicken soup goes viral 

It is essential for customers to be highly aware and educated about the indications of possible contamination of a food product. Similarly, Kaitlyn exposed a seemingly spoiled product that she purchased from Trader Joe’s only a day before by sharing a video on October 22, 2024. She recorded herself trying to open the product while constantly highlighting the swollen plastic wrap that stores the food’s contents. “Do we think this has gone bad?” Kaitlyn starts the video before explaining the entire situation. 

She revealed that the product was recently bought from the store and yet failed to maintain its shelf life even for a day. She elucidated that the contents in the soup had expanded resulting in the lid popping off. “In the time that I’ve had it in my apartment, it’s expanded so much that the lids, like, been pushed off," she said. It was made clear that the soup was still unopened, yet the distorted packaging became a point of concern for the shopper. In the final bit of the video, Kaitlyn informed her viewers that she was going to “stab it” open. She also questioned Trader Joe’s manufacturing practices by chipping in a little note, “Trader Joe…what y’all got going on the factory?”

Internet relates to shopper's experience with Trader Joe’s

Several users flocked to the viral TikTok post and shared insights on the matter. The comments section was flooded with similar experiences from other shoppers. @theUnstuck suggested that “a full refund or replacement” was possible if the shopper took their receipt back to Trader Joe’s. Another comment by @ALyLoVe read, “I got the fall harvest chili from Trader Joe's and it did the same thing in less than 24 hours after purchase and tasted sour. I threw it out.” “I would never trust anything like that to be safe. Especially chicken!” another TikTok user @Ci stated. 

Some other comments under the post attempted to explain what had happened in the chicken noodle soup cup and the grocery store's poor maintenance of the food products it sells. The bloating of the plastic usually indicates contamination by bacteria as they ferment the food contents to release gas as a by-product. The gas is then further trapped within the plastic wrap, causing the swollen appearance, as per the National Library of Medicine. Moreover, Trader Joe’s products have been recalled in light of the listeria outbreak, per the Daily Dot. 

You can follow @k..swag on TikTok for content on lifestyle and fitness.