A Nashville, Tennessee, man raised concerns online after alleging he found what he believed were pieces of glass inside meatballs made with meat he bought from Kroger.
The man shared two photos of the glass he allegedly found and wrote, “Found broken glass or something in meatballs from Kroger on Murfreesboro Road.” The first photo showed a plate with the meatballs, with the small pieces he found placed beside them. The second provided a closer look at the translucent material. Several viewers speculated that the pieces could be glass, although the photos alone do not establish what the material actually was.
In addition to the photos, the man provided more context about the meatballs in his caption. “My wife made meatballs from Kroger brand ground beef and sweet Italian sausage,” he wrote. He then added that every meatball they bit into had “bits of broken glass or something in it.”
To explain why he did not believe the material came from their kitchen, the man said there was no glass near where his wife was cooking and that the dishes and utensils they used were clean. He also said they couldn’t file a complaint, writing, “tried calling the 1800 number, but they couldn’t file the complaint because the loyalty number was under her mom’s name.”
After the couple couldn’t file a complaint, they took the pieces they found, along with the receipt, to the Kroger location where they purchased the meat used to make the meatballs. He alleged that the store took their information and said they would keep them updated, but claimed that they had not heard back as of the time of his post. He ended the post by writing, “With all of these recalls happening right now, I’m not taking any chances. If it isn’t glass, maybe someone could give me a general idea of what it could be.” These claims remain unverified.
Viewers React After Tennessee Man Finds Mysterious Pieces in Meatballs
Many viewers expressed concern about the Tennessee man’s account, especially given the potential danger of finding glass or another foreign object in food. “Report this to the FDA/USDA immediately. Grocery store managers drag their feet, but federal regulators do not play around with foreign objects in ground meat. Glad nobody got hurt, that’s terrifying,” one person wrote.
In this case, the USDA would generally be the relevant federal agency because the complaint involves meat products. The agency’s Food Safety and Inspection Service accepts consumer reports involving foreign objects in meat and poultry, including materials such as glass.
The comment prompted the man to respond, saying, “Just gave them a call, but because we didn’t save the original packaging (because who would have known that would happen, and we took the trash out that night, there isn’t much they can do. That being said, I’m going to comptons or food lion for a minute because all of their ground stuff is done in house lmao.”
The missing packaging could make an investigation more difficult. USDA advises consumers to save the original packaging, the suspected object, and any uneaten portion of the product when reporting foreign objects in meat, since label information can help investigators identify where it was produced.
More viewers expressed concern over what the man allegedly found. One person wrote, “Yeah go Federal with this and not through the company.” Another commenter said, “This is craziest thing I’ve seen in a while. Thank GOD you guys saw that! I am actually kinda sick thinking about what could have happened. Now maybe you’re going to be paranoid about store foods!”
For now, what the couple found in their meatballs remains unclear. The photos show small, translucent pieces, but they do not establish whether the material was actually glass or where it came from.
The man said he made a call after commenters urged him to report the incident to federal regulators, but without the original packaging, identifying the specific meat products and where they were produced could be more difficult. As of publication, no recall or official finding has linked the Kroger-brand ground beef or Italian sausage described in his post to foreign-material contamination.
