What makes Trader Joe’s snacks so delicious? The answer is apparently bugs and a whole lot of gravel.


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Earlier this week, the grocer announced yet another recall, yanking bags of their Fully Cooked Falafel and cans of their Unexpected Broccoli Cheddar Soup as they may contain some very unexpected ingredients — insects and rocks.


“There was an issue in the manufacturing processes in the facilities,” a spokesperson for the company told the Associated Press of how, exactly, these surprise additions landed on shelves.



The decision to pull these treats comes roughly one week after the retailer recalled packages of their Almond Windmill Cookies and Dark Chocolate Chunk and Almond Cookies for similar rock-related reasons.


But these rocky treats are only the latest instance of rocks sneaking their way into Trader Joe’s vaguely racist delicacies. Over the past few years, several fans of the tropical grocery chain have headed to r/traderjoes to share their all-too-close encounters with unexpected pebbles.


“Bit into the last of my Strawberry Lemonade Joe-Joe’s and there was a rock inside one of them!!” Redditor u/2110daisy lamented in a post from last August, flaunting the offending piece of gravel sullying her summery snack.


Bit into the last of my Strawberry Lemonade Joe-Joe’s and there was a rock inside one of them!!
by u/2110daisy in traderjoes


Months later, u/Mostly__Water found themselves between a rock and a delicious place, stumbling across a piece of gravel while making lunch.


“I was making a salad and opened a fresh bag of Raw California Walnut Halves & Pieces and out comes this odd-looking ‘walnut.’ Turns out it’s a rock…,” they wrote last February.


“I feel like someone should know that rocks are showing up in their bags,” they continued, debating whether they should contact customer support. “I’m lucky it was pretty big so I was able to notice it right away and not accidentally bite down on it.”


Years earlier, u/Dogsaremybestfriend also narrowly avoided a similarly toothache-inducing fate.


“Found a rock in one of my vegetable samosas, almost bit down on it,” they explained back in 2020.


Found a rock in one of my vegetable samosas, almost bit down on it.
by u/Dogsaremybestfriend in traderjoes


But hey, maybe Trader Joe’s could use this as a new branding opportunity. To paraphrase u/signuporloginagain’s Don Draper-esque suggestion, they could always “just repackage them as grape nuts.”