– I don’t think I’ve ever howled so loudly before. That’s what Lina Måsøval from Hitra tells news. On Monday afternoon, she was busy preparing the leftovers from yesterday’s turkey dinner. Then she got a bit of a surprise. Lina Måsøval was shocked to find a toad in a potato bag. Photo: Private She cut open the bag of potatoes and found a live and slightly dry toad among the potatoes. – I was a bit shocked, says Måsøval. The potato bag, which is an almond potato bag from Bama, was bought on Monday at 4pm at Rema 1000 in Hitra. – I don’t think I will ever open a new bag of potatoes again, she says. Although Måsøval is not afraid of toads, she did not expect to find a toad in a bag that had just been bought. In the potato bag was a live toad. Photo: Lise Måsøval It’s just fun, but maybe not something you should find in a potato bag anyway, she says. – Jumped up on the potato field Annette Taugbøl is a researcher at the Norwegian Institute for Natural Research. She confirms to news that the animal in the bag is a toad. – If they did not get into the bag themselves, it may have been jumped onto the potato harvester. They actively burrow and can hide in nooks and crannies. Annette Taugbøl, researcher at the Norwegian Institute for Natural Sciences. Photo: Arnstein Staverløkk/NINA / rnstein Staverløkk/NINA She says that it is not harmful to human health to eat anything that has been near a toad. Returned the toad to the shop Had it been up to Måsøval, she would have released the toad herself. At the same time, she knew that no one would have believed her if she had told what she found in the bag. That’s why she took the potato bag with the toad in it to Rema 1000, to show the employees what was hidden among the potatoes. – They were as shocked as I was, she says. Shopkeeper in Rema 1000 Sandstad, Siri Sandø, says that the employee behind the till was also very surprised to see the toad. – It’s a bit special, says Sandø. She says that she is surprised that the toad was still alive, as the bag of potatoes had been in the fridge over the weekend. The toad was released on a lawn outside the shop at Hitra, explains Sandbø. – I have not spoken to the customer myself, but we apologize for the incident. This is not something that should happen, she says. Måsøval got a new bag of potatoes from Rema 1000 and could go home and enjoy the turkey dinner. – Shouldn’t have happened Pia Gulbrandsen is executive vice president for communications and public relations at Bama. She explains that Norwegian potatoes are harvested and transported to reception at a packing plant. At the packing plant, the potatoes are freed from stones, washed, dried, polished, sorted and finally packed. – This deviation should not have happened and has probably been an unpleasant experience for the customer, says Guldbrandsen. – To avoid similar situations in the future, we will ask the packaging company to look carefully at its routines and make the necessary improvements, she says further. Published 28.10.2024, at 20.56 Updated 28.10.2024, at 21.24
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