‘Ew': Aussies horrified over ‘mysterious' find in Vegemite

News.com.au

10-06-2025

A Melbourne shopper's disappointment over their morning toast has sparked both a corporate investigation and a wave of online banter after they claimed to have received a jar of Vegemite with a mysterious fingerprint in it.
Posting to r/melbourne, the user shared a photo of the jar with its lid unscrewed, revealing what appears to be an imprint embedded in the spread.
'Was really looking forward to some Vegemite on toast,' the post was captioned.
' Woolies just dropped off my order, and the Vegemite opened a little too easily with the ring intact … I looked in thinking it would be fine and there's a fingerprint!' the person continued.
However, they obviously weren't too upset by it, as they jokingly added: 'Obviously, it will be taken to the police for fingerprint analysis immediately, I can't let a crime like this go unpunished'.
'Now I have to have strawberry jam on toast, and that's just not the same,' the post concluded.
Commenters weighed in
The post's tongue-in-cheek tone did leave a few commenters confused, with one asking, 'Is this real?' and another declaring it 'fake news'.
But the original poster insisted it was real, prompting a variety of commenters to weigh in on what they'd do in that situation.
Half admitted they'd probably eat it anyway.
'There's enough salt in there to kill any germs I reckon,' claimed one. 'Get into it,' urged another.
'It's extra flavour,' joked a third person, while a fourth advised the user to 'just scrape off the top layer,' and someone else said, 'there's worse things than fingerprints when you go out and eat'.
However, others were horrified: 'I wouldn't eat it, it's kind of gross and you don't know what else they've done with it,' said one.
'Ew, get your money back,' someone else urged.
The original poster then updated the thread, saying they strongly believe this was a product defect, as 'upon returning to the store, two out of three jars I bought, the lids just came off without any effort, and one had marks in it already'.
They also mentioned that they reported this to Woolworths, Vegemite, and the ACCC.
Vegemite responds
Vegemite shared a statement with news.com.au that read: 'We are in contact with the author of a recent post shared by a Melbourne Reddit user concerning a jar of Vegemite which they believed to have been tampered with. We take such matters seriously and are committed to ensuring the safety and quality of our products.
'There is no evidence to suggest a widespread problem.
We are actively investigating the case and remain dedicated to upholding the high standards that Vegemite is known for.'