Fact Check

Glass Found in Dippin' Stix Packages?

Rumor: Pieces of glass and deads ants were found in packages of Dippin' Stix.

David Mikkelson

Published Mar 17, 2015

Claim:   Pieces of glass and dead ants were found in packages of Dippin' Stix.

UNDETERMINED

Example:   [Collected via Facebook, March 2015]






 

Origins: On 14 March 2015, Facebook user Sami Kae posted a video which purportedly showed pieces of glass found inside a container of Dippin' Stix brand fruit and vegetable slices and dip snacks.

While the video (which has since been removed) only showed one individual package of Dippin' Stix, Kae claimed that she found glass in several recently purchased packages. She also maintained that she discovered dead ants inside the Dippin' Stix containers.

On 17 March 2015, Dippin' Stix issued a response to Kae's post. While the company promised its customers that it was taking the claim seriously, they also expressed some skepticism about it for a few reasons: They said there is no glass in their manufacturing facilities, that the small specks shown in the video were likely part of an apple seed and not a bunch of dead ants, that this is the first time they had ever received such a complaint, and that the packages in question had been discarded by the consumer and thus were unavailable for examination:


Hey Dippin' Stix Fans,

We've been made aware of a video concerning our product that was posted this weekend. We are taking this product safety concern very seriously! Food safety has always been a number one priority for Reichel Foods; we eat our products too! The possibility of glass shards finding their way in to our products is very puzzling because we do not have any glass in our manufacturing facility. Likewise, we have never experienced any similar situation or product complaints of this nature. We have not found any ants in our facility (it is winter here) and we believe the specks seen on the apples were likely part of an apple seed, apple skin, etc. If we could have gotten the product back, we would be able to examine it more closely. The lot code information from the package is critical for a thorough investigation and unfortunately, the object and all product purchased was thrown away. Without this information and the object, it is very difficult for us to pinpoint a source. Hopefully the consumer that posted this video will cooperate with us in providing as much information as possible so we can complete our investigation.


 

While the authenticity of this video is still being investigated, it appears that this is an isolated incident. Dippin' Stix has not issued a recall and Sami Kae is apparently the only person who has claimed to have found glass and dead ants in one of the company's products.

Last updated:   18 March 2015

By David Mikkelson

David Mikkelson founded the site now known as snopes.com back in 1994.