I’m still Gagging on Walmart ‘Great Value’ Mild Italian Sausage, cooked up, took a slice , tasted like Pine-sol.
So I thought, I better be sure,doubting my own taste buds, assuming the sausage was good since we just bought it and it had an expiration date of 7/14 and this was only the 8th~
So I cut & tasted a different piece from another sausage that also had a -soapy Pine-Sol type taste, but was clearly gamier, so spit it out~
Then I looked closely at the sausages I had removed from the frying pan and placed on a plate -It was FULL OF WORM 100’S OF WORMS springing out all over the encasement – long white strings~
So Disgustingly GROSS~!!!
Recapping my actions in shock and totally grossed out~!!!………
Since I had steam/boiled them in a frying pan, I didn’t see all those long thin white thread like worms that had broken through their encasements and were hanging out cooked, [ as they tried to escape being parboiled.. ] since the fat that was boiled out frothed the water.
[I always parboil/steam sausage, then take them out cut them up to add to sauce]…
Not this time~!!!
I took off a small piece while cutting them and popped into my mouth to taste.
Tasted like PineSol smells~
So I forced it down, thinking ‘agh’, just some different seasonings or maybe the frying pan was a bit soapy{?}, so I decide to test another bite from another sausage to see if they were good or not..expecting the next piece to taste right….
Stronger yucky taste~!
What the heck??
This piece I spit out immediately…I couldnt believe that I got 2 items of bad meat from the St.Mary’s Pennsylvania Walmart~!
The 5 lb roll of 80/20 hamburger that I had just opened earlier,made a poping sound when I cut the tube open and it let out a smelly gas, so it was bad and now the sausage was full of worms~!!
Earlier, before cooking their sausage, I had opened a new 5 lb tube of the 80/20 hamburger, which let out a gas hiss and had a slight odor~ I wrapped that back up planning to return it to Walmart.
It wasn’t supposed to expire til 7/14 & we only bought it the night before! So I had my son, James smell it to confirm it was funky and put it back it the bag, tied it and placed it in the freezer so I could return it next trip to Walmart.
Because the hamburger was ‘bad’, I had decided to make spaghetti & sausage~
Yuck~!
I am glad I cook sausage separately before adding to sauce to cut down on the grease, but since I steam/boil it to get all the fat out, the water gets frothy a bit, so I didnt see that each sausage had these long thin white threads popped perpendicularly through the encasements!
I had cut off a chunk from the end of one sausage [before seeing the worms] and had eaten a piece that tasted kind of like soap or pine-sol, thinking my taste buds were ‘off’…
Then I figured I needed confirmation , so I cut another piece off another sausage and it tasted even worse so I spit that one out…
I took them out of the water, put them on a plate and then saw the little stringy things. I called James to see and initially he said it looked like it was just the encasements breaking down from boiling them, but ass we looked closer we then realized that there were more, as I turned the sausages over to look at the little strings, we then realized that they were long stringy white worms!!!!!
GROSSED OUT AND OUTRAGED, I IMMEDIATELY PUT MY FINGER DOWN MY THROAT- to try and vomit out the piece I had already swallowed.my stomach still remains queezy today!
James called up Walmart immediate and they apologized and said to bring them back, we decided to take the ride 15 miles to them and show them so they could put out a recall.
So we took them back to Walmart – grossed them out too~
Told them they better recall their crap~
They said they get it all premade, pre-frozen and even though it had the label and UPC that they weren’t saying whether or not they would send in a recall~ Come on~!!
If it was like that in my package, it had to be in others~!!
They gave me a $20 Gift Certificate [big deal!] but I can still feel that lump in my throat-
Although I know the worms were dead, its still grossing me out~!
Thinking about it, makes me wonder if at the meat plant perhaps when cleaning up and scraping away scraps, that someone must have put them into the vat and processed them into sausages- since they had a soapy, pine-sol type taste…sick~!
Disgusting – How many other packages will be like this??? Who else will be affected???
I normally love sausage, but now cant consider eating any.. especially their brand.
James and I then went to buy some non-meat food products, but I stopped by their sausage, seeing some packages still icy from being just brought out.
They had a 7/18 expiration date – so they either sold out all the 7/14 or maybe did know about it and removed them all.
Out of curiosity I started looking real close at their new packages and could see that under the encasements they those too looked like there were little white stringy things…that if boiled will most certainly pop through.
Where ever this pork sausage was processed at needs to have the FDA go in and inspect their plant and make them get rid of all their wormy meat!!
DONT BUY GREAT VALUE ITALIAN SAUSAGE!!!
DONT BUY ANY ‘GREAT VALUE SAUSAGES’ AS THEY ALL LOOK LIKE THEY COME FROM THE SAME PLACE~!!
Ave 
i cannot believe this at all. since there is no pictorial evidence, i say this is all bs.
Whatever you believe is up to you and your problem not mine~!! you probably dont believe the truth about many things and make many other wrong assumptions, again thats your problem. BTW Walmart has already acknowledged it both when I returned it to them and when their corporate office called to apologize about it~ I blogged only to warn others. You probably believe Osama is still alive too since the govt chose not to show pics.
It’s true we just took ours back two days ago on 3/10/14 it was not in every bite just certain spots it would taste like it. I took two bites and tasted it my daughter ended up not tasting it till the last bite of hers. Took it back lady said well we have never had any complaints about it. Then I look it up on internet and it’s all over about it. My daughter in law also works at walmart and I called her and told her to come taste it just incase they called me a liar and she tasted it also. It is not fake it’s real. Although I never looked for worms glad I didn’t cuz the taste was enough as it was.
To Barb:
It took me about a year before I could eat sausage again.
While I have always loved sausage, after that bad sausage from Walmart that to me tasted like pinesol that I had swallowed some thinking perhaps my taste buds off a bit or that it might have been a cluster of some spices in the sausage that didnt mix through right, it was that second bite from a different piece of sausage that was just so much more disgusting that I spit it out into a ziploc baggie and then went and removed the sausage from the pan I cooked it in which I had covered with water when cooking as it leaches out the fat.
It wasnt til I drained it that I saw all the dead worms and not believing my eyes, called my son downstairs to look at them and confirm it to me that they were worms and then he called Walmart up right away, as I went into the bathroom to try and make myself vomit the rest up and to try and get whatever parts I had swallowed, to them get out. I only was able to cough out a small piece of what I had swallowed.
We both went to Walmart right away and the manager and workers were also sickened when they saw the worms, still attached, embedded into the sausages but peeping through the casings, as they had tried to escape when they began cooking.
I went to the doctors and had tests done several times over the ensuing months as I was afraid of developing some further illness from any of the parts I had eaten but failed to vomit out.[I had had a previous GERD stomach surgery years before, which makes voluntary vomiting very difficult]
Oh they gave me a gift card to buy more meat, but I told them I couldn’t buy any of their meat, so they said I could use it on any food products – so I bought some canned goods instead.
To HRM Bea:
[The first person who posted on this blog that didnt want to believe me]. I am sorry I didnt have a camera at the time…. I was too busy trying to puke it out and then brought the bad meat back to Walmart in St.Mary’s Pa – if you wanted to check for yourself somehow expecting the truth from them – They took the meat back, gave me a refund and a $20 gift certificate .
About a month later they sent an adjustor for Premio [ who makes Great Value Sausage] to my house and wanted to get that last sample as they already kept the part I brought to the store. I told him the only sample I had saved was the piece of meat I was able to spit out and into a baggie & then sealed it and froze it to show my doctor.
Walmart’s own insurance adjustor called me several times over the next few months to see how I was doing. I know I could have gotten a lawyer, but I was more concerned about my health, as just the thought of it would give me that dry heave feeling.
Later on, since I didn’t have any long lasting physical effects, I told them I would not be seeking legal action, but hoped they would do a better job with quality assurance in the future as the next victim might be a bit quicker to get a lawyer than I would have. If it happens again to anyone else who would seek legal action I would be willing to testify as to what happened to me.
I just had the same thing with the sweet sausages from Costco. They defrosted in the fridge over a day and I started browning them in a pan when all of these thin white worms about an inch long started wriggling to the surface making their way out of the sausages. HORRIFIED!!! I called Costco and they’re having me bring in the sausages to be inspected and are refunding them. From now on if I want sausage I will be grinding my own, but I think I’ll be waiting awhile before I can eat meat at all without wanting to vomit.
DON’T EVER BUY ANYTHING THAT IS GREAT VALUE BRAND OR ANYTHING MADE IN THE DELI AT WALMART! I worked as a greeter at the Fort Gratiot. MI Walmart for about 6 months before I just couldn’t deal with it anymore. Being the greeter people had to come to me to get stickers put on the items that they wanted to return. People routinely returned deli bread because it had bites taken out of it by some unidentified rodent. I have also seen bags of bread containing rodent droppings (assuming it was a mouse) and bugs. Unsure of what the bugs were though. The worst thing I have ever seen being returned was a large bottle of Great Value brand apple juice. A woman walked up to me freaking out because she had just bought it and filled her kids cups with it in the parking lot…when she noticed something float up from the bottom of the bottle. It was a giant (and I mean giant like the size of a garder snake) white worm. It had clearly been in the bottle quite some time as it had mold growing all over it. My manager tried to say at first that it was just an apple peel. I said that is definitely not a peel. Its segmented. So then he looked closer and decided it was a snake. I also said no it is NOT a snake. It has no head or tail, no scales, and IT IS SEGMENTED! So they offered her her two lousy dollars back and said they would have to keep the juice. She had to physically force the juice out of my managers hand and then quickly left saying she was taking it to a lawyer. I hope she sued the crap out of them. That is unacceptable!
I had gotten applesauce with bug leg & little chunk segments through out it, initially thinking they were just parts of core or stem until looking closer and seeing the legs that looked like cricket legs~ I realize that some things can get through processing nearly at any manufacturing plant but that one jar had what looked like a dozen or more legs, either crickets or roaches – guess maybe they were roaches as they got in during processing, which would have been indoors at whatever factory it was made at.Again that was the Great Value brand as well.
Walmart send me a $4 gift certificate and thanked me for bringing it to their attention… sheesh… so while other companies are contracted to make the Great Value brand and some products are good – some definitely are bottom of the barrel or maybe from the bottom of the barrel~!
To Michelle:
It took me more than a year to be able to even try Italian sausage again BUT not from Walmart~!!
In fact to this day when I pass near where the sausage is my gut leaps. The Great Value Brand is made by that brand sitting next to it called Premio, I had been contacted by both Walmart & Premio and they wanted to take the last sample I had saved in my freezer but I declined.
I had already brought the package back to their store and so they had it but their only interest in getting the last sample [ what i spit out into a baggie after realizing I swallowed dirty meat that had worms in it~!] was that they wanted all the evidence~! Now while I didnt even know where or who to contact about even considering a lawsuit, my concern is for others who face the same thing and wonder if they are the only ones. they aren’t.
Looking back that was an extremely hot week, nationwide, although that doesnt excuse them for selling a product that obviously thawed and was refrozen more than a few times. In order for those eggs to have hatched that meat had to be above freezing for a while, yet when they put them out for sale, they ar frozen and gradually thaw in the meat case and there is a sell by date and it could be frozen one more time at home.
With worms popping out of the meat as it cooked, that means they had to have hatched in the meat when it was above freezing and then was refrozen before arrival at the store in order to be placed in the meat section frozen and beginning to thaw. so did it happen at the factory? or on the road at a warehouse? Or was the refrigerated truck not cold for a period long enough to enable the worms to hatch and then refroze the meat before it arrived at the store?
There are too many possible places where the meat could have gone bad before hitting the shelves at the store, so now I buy my meats local only and no more mass produced meat products that can be left sitting for hours on end between being transported from one place to the next. It all still grosses me out.
I also have gotten apple sauce that had bug legs chopped up in it, looking like roach legs or cricket legs. I brought that back and received a $4 gift cert in the mail. Guess thats the best they can do as everything is so mass produced…
There are things they can do however, that is to keep their warehouses and manufacturing plants inspected daily since they produce so much food for the population, there needs to be better quality assurances. as you have witnessed when you worked there and have seen for yourself the problem that mice cause, eating breads and other evidence of bugs in things…Gives me shivers~!
So true! I just had some spoiled from there too. Smelled horrible and was well before the date! Ugh never again am I buying their brand!
GV brand is made by Premio~ I buy neither and stil get gag feeling when passing by that section.
They arent the only ones however. I was at a Bi-Lo last week and bought chicken legs with the thighs on that was seasoned.
They cooked and smelled great so at least were not spoiled.
Unfortunately for my son however, he ate 1/2 of one , turned it over and there were about 30 round worms broken out on the other side, protruding from the join in the fat part.
Apparently they attempted escape when cooking.
First time to see worms in food again in over 3 yrs & was from a different store !
We brought the remainder of the meat from the pack with its wrapper back to the store immediately and the store apologized and refunded.
Still my son was so grossed out [as I can relate how I feel the same way about Walmart sausage now].
Its such a shame as I typically get most of my meat from BiLo, since the sausage incident at Walmart.Now I still buy other products at both stores but will not buy sausage at Walmart and will not by chicken legs at Bilo.
I did buy some boneless beef ribs at Walmart, trimmed them and cut them up and put in my own food processer to grind down to hamburger, pressed it in baggies and froze them same day.
Cooked 4 last night and found meat tasted a bit gamey. So even buying meat in whole pieces – instead of buying hamburger – in their tubes – is still no guarantee of getting good meat or that all the meat is bad, as I do get good meat there as well. Its just important to check the meat as soon as I get it home and place it into portions and into ziploc bags immediately, after examing and smelling it to make sure it is okay.
I bought some Tyson canned chicken~ Tastes ok & is safe enough ~ but saw adocumentary on how they process canned chicken…yuck ..
So may have to become a vegetarian ~ if I cant find a good meat source.
Even the boneless chicken Walmart sells is from those GMO chickens that are given something to grow to adult size in only 40 days. Check youtube and see how they do it.
The meat looks a bit more stringy and doesnt taste like regular chicken.
No test results on what that growth hormone the chickens receive will do to humans ~ after being cooked. Also alot of chicken is now being sent to China to raise slaughter and process so I guess we will know in about 20 yrs from now we will get as a result.
Reply to validatruthah@hotmail.com
At the time this happened I had an old computer , no camera and no cell phone. The Walmart in St Mary’s where I brought it back to was equally grossed out by seeing the worms protruding from the skin as they tried to escape during the boil. Walmart was very sorry, refunded the money and gave a $20 Gift Cert and asked for my phone number so one of their higher ups could contact me and did. They wanted the piece I had puked out that I had placed in a plastic bag and froze. Not being familiar with worms at the time, I didnt know what kind they were or what they would do, so had saved them for the doctors in case they needed to send to a lab.
I did see a doctor and did get tested to make sure I hadnt contracted any.
To the naysayers – I could care less what you say in your ignorance. You dont matter to me nor does your opinions.
The brand at the time Walmart was using was Primo to make their Great Value Brand Sausage. Primo also contacted me and apologized.
The week that batch of sausage was sold, there was a very bad heat wave and they said one of their trucks had broken down however they hadnt had any notice as to whether the refrigeration was off for long or not but that was the only answer they could offer was that the worms may have started to grow when the temperature rose a certain amount and that it was known that worms can survive being frozen as well.They doubted it happened at their plant but were investigating it. They offered to buy the piece I had frozen as I had already returned the rest of it including its packaging and the store receipt.
I told them I was not going to sue them but was disgusted that such a thing could have ever happened.
At this writing 4 yrs later I still shutter when I pass the sausage in Walmart. I cant buy it or eat it however I can now eat it again from other stores, so the effects though they were sickening were not enough to bother pursuing it further.
I am not the only one this has happened to, nor is Walmart the only store it happens to. It can happen to any store.
Several months ago it happened to chicken thighs & legs with the bone in. There were round worms in the crease of the chicken, in the fatty area that we first thought to be pieces of feather til they came out. That happened ata a local Bilo store but at least it didnt happen to me, but to another member of my family. We brought that right back to the store as well and the worms were still attached through its skin. So now we no longer buy chicken legs or any chicken with bones and skin. We also carefully inspect our meat before and after cooking it and anything that even resembles worms, well not caring if it were to be cartlidge fat or a feather, its not going to be eaten.
Some say I dont like Walmart ~ thats not true – I still do alot of shopping there for other items – so while perhaps you wouldnt like the store if it happened to you, dont impose your thoughts to my thoughts or motivations.
This reallly happened and if you cant accept the truth and have to mock or say nasty things, thats on you and thats your problem which is why I didnt post your inflammatory comment. [validatruthah@hotmail.com] but others could contact you if they want to see how ignorant you are.