Melbourne family claims to find lizard inside can of cannellini beans
Harrison Razzi and his family were preparing one of their favourite meals when they made the horrifying discovery on the weekend.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Family finds lizard in canned beans, sparks investigation.
Razzi said the family was making minestrone to 'have a good food, a good dinner'.
But when he opened a can of Carmelina's cannellini beans, Razzi said he found a small lizard inside.
'I was looking in the can of beans and found a lizard, a baby lizard in there,' he said.
'My mum was crying, my sister was screaming.'
Razzi said the sight was 'horrifying' and it looked like the lizard had been fermented in the can of beans.
The importer of the beans, Leo's Imports, told 7NEWS it 'takes all consumer complaints seriously and is committed to upholding the highest standards of product quality and safety'.
However it added: 'We are unable to substantiate the claim which raises questions regarding its credibility and intent.'
The company says it has committed to a full and proper investigation.
According to the product's packaging, the beans come from Italy.
It is not the first time an animal has made its way into a tinned product.
Last year a South Australian woman claimed she found the remains of rat in a Coles brand can of red kidney beans.
Melbourne University food scientist Senaka Ranadheera said it was common for amphibians to be found in fresh produce.
'They have previously found even birds or small mammals like mice,' he said.
'We need to further improve these food safety management systems.'
Razzi said his family has been buying the same brand of Italian beans for years without issue.
But he said they are not in a rush to buy another can and attempt to make minestrone again.
'Maybe in the near future but not anytime soon,' he said.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
7NEWS
16 hours ago
- 7NEWS
Family pleads for change after father Dennis Carruthers dies following discharge from Blacktown Hospital
The grieving family of a much-loved father claims he died because of alleged neglect, and are desperate for change at a busy Australian hospital. Dennis Carruthers, 82, was laid to rest in a funeral service held in northwest Sydney on Monday. WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Grieving family demands action after father's death at Blacktown Hospital. He had been discharged from Blacktown Hospital earlier in July having battled bacterial infection cellulitis in his legs. He died when his legs gave way days later. '(My father) needed to be in hospital, and he probably would still be with us today [if he was],' his son Brad Carruthers told 7NEWS. 'He didn't get the attention he needed. He needed more time.' Carruthers said the hospital was understaffed, health workers were under the pump and his dad was pushed out the door before his legs had time to heal. 'He said 'I just need more time' and they kept saying 'no, you've got to go, we've got this room for someone else',' Carruthers said. Health Minister Ryan Park told 7NEWS: 'I offer my sincere condolences to the family.' 'Western Sydney Local Health District is urgently looking into this matter.' Park added that Dennis Carruthers was medically assessed as 'fit for discharge' and had been given a home visit and follow-up care. It comes almost a year after a 7NEWS investigation exposed a crisis at Blacktown Hospital. More shocking images emerged just last week. 'The situation at Blacktown Hospital is out of control,' NSW Opposition Leader Mark Speakman said. The Carruthers family wants action now, 'so it doesn't happen to someone else's father'. They have suggested a deep and proper investigation into the hospital. 7NEWS understands moves are being made at state parliament for an inquiry and developments should be seen this week including a recruitment drive and safe staff ratios.
The Age
20 hours ago
- The Age
Organ donation: Teddy Forster died before he got a new heart. A simple reform may have helped him
Teddy Forster died last year at age 20 months after waiting for a heart transplant. While Noah's cardiomyopathy is less serious than Teddy's – Noah is not currently on the waiting list for a heart transplant – he was nonetheless transferred from Perth to Melbourne after a series of back-to-back viruses that could have attacked his already fragile heart. Noah may also need a heart transplant one day. Sinead and Alex decided to share their family's story given Australia's heart transplant waiting list is at a five-year-high. The Allan government has still not overhauled how Victorians sign up to the organ donation register, more than a year after a parliamentary inquiry recommended linking registrations to driver's licence renewals. 'You never think the unthinkable will happen to you,' Sinead says. 'You don't want to plan for the worst day of your life. But families need to have those conversations. They need to be prepared so that if it happens, you don't need to think about it.' Loading Australia operates an opt-in system for organ donation, like the United States and Canada, and families are also asked for their consent. Jurisdictions such as Wales, Iceland and the Netherlands have adopted opt-out systems where people have to tell authorities about any religious or cultural objections. Research has shown as many as four out of five Australians support organ and tissue donation, but only one in three are registered on the Australian Organ Donor Register. South Australia leads the nation, with 74 per cent of eligible individuals signed up as organ donors, more than twice the national average. The South Australian government says this is because it was the first state in Australia to allow people to become a registered donor through their driver's licences. Only 23 per cent of Victorians are on the register, according to the recent inquiry, a figure well below the national average. Services Australia data shows that registrations are as low as 10 and 15 per cent in pockets of Melbourne's north and western suburbs. Beechworth, Yackandandah, Chiltern and Rutherglen, all in the state's north-east, have the highest level of registrations, at 42 per cent of the population. Dr Rohit D'Costa, the medical director of DonateLife Victoria, said older people shouldn't assume they wouldn't be suitable candidates for organ donation. 'People rule themselves out of being a donor, saying 'nobody would want my organs', but we've had donors well into their 80s. That liver tissue can last for many years after the donation,' D'Costa says. He says an older donor's kidneys and lungs could function for a decade or more in a recipient, and one organ donor can save as many as seven lives. Loading 'Adult donors can help little children. It's possible to do what's called a split liver, where part of the liver goes to an adult and the smaller lobe goes to a child. One adult can help multiple people with their generosity.' D'Costa hopes Victoria will soon shift to the model where people are prompted to register to be a donor whenever they renew their driver's licences. Opposition health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier says she will back such a proposal, which would retain Victoria's opt-in system. 'I don't think enough is being done by government to increase awareness,' Crozier says. An Allan government spokesperson says Labor will respond to the recent parliamentary inquiry later this year. 'We'll have more to say soon,' the spokesperson says. Meanwhile, 105-or-so Australians are waiting for a heart transplant, up from 64 this time last year. Noah Forster isn't one of them. For now. 'He's getting stronger every day,' mum Sinead says, wiping away tears. Start the day with a summary of the day's most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.
Perth Now
2 days ago
- Perth Now
‘No solution' to ‘toxic' Aussie beach crisis
An 'unprecedented' natural disaster that has killed thousands of marine creatures, sparked orders to stay out of the water, and gutted parts of the local tourism sector has scientists alarmed, with no sign of an end in sight. The Algae bloom parked up just off the coast of South Australia has persistently held its position inside the St Vincent Gulf since it was first officially reported in March, after visitors of the Waitpinga Beach on South Australia's Fleurieu Peninsula began reporting illness. The toxic bloom has killed hundreds of sea creatures, caused illness in humans and sparked orders for swimmers to stay out of affected vary on how many creatures have been killed by the bloom, but it is understood there have been recorded deaths among more than 200 different species of sea life. Even more alarmingly, there doesn't seem to be any respite in sight. Snapshot of Chlorophyll-A concentrations around the South Australian coastline on July 23. Source: Integrated Marine Observing System Credit: Supplied Dr Nina Wootton, a Marine Scientist from the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Adelaide, said tracking the outbreak of the Algae bloom was difficult, but it could have something to do with the Murray River flooding in 2022/23. 'Obviously there's a lot of run-off that goes into the Murray, and then this has potentially pushed some of these algae species out into the marine environment, and it's sort of just been sitting there dormant. And then when we see perfect conditions arise, it can then bloom,' she told NewsWire. 'Somehow this species has gotten there, and then we have a range of different environmental factors that have caused this perfect storm of events,' she said. 'When things are hot and still, (the algae) grow, and this species has just boomed because there's been nothing there to break it up naturally.' Fatalities have been recorded among more than 200 marine species as the toxic algae bloom shows no signs of disappearing any time soon. Supplied Credit: News Corp Australia Although millions of dollars have been committed to clean up and research, Dr Wootton said the cure was ultimately in the hands of mother nature. 'The thing that's so hard is there's not really a solution to get rid of this bloom,' Dr Wootton said. 'The main way we're going to be able to do it is hopefully cross our fingers and toes that we have good weather conditions and we have some strong winter storms over the next couple of months that will break it up and eventually blow it off the coast. That's all we can really hope for now … to get rid of it naturally at least,' she said. 'It could be up to 18 months. Some scientists are predicting that we're going to continue to see deaths of animals for up to 18 months if we don't have these winter storms breaking it up.' University of Adelaide Microbial Ecologist Dr Christopher Keneally said even though 'you can't really see them,' algae blooms can have serious impacts on wildlife, and can even affect humans. The toxic algae bloom is impacting the waters around the Southern Fleurieu Peninsula, Yorke Peninsula and Kangaroo Island, with locals reporting painful symptoms, including sore eyes, shortness of breath and skin irritations. Credit: Supplied Dead sea life has been spotted washed up at West Beach, despite hopes cold weather would put a stop to the toxic algae bloom. SharkWatch SA Facebook Credit: News Corp Australia 'Algae blooms have a massive impact on fish … they concentrate toxins – especially into shellfish – and cause a lot of damage,' he said. 'It's not as much of a problem for mammals like dolphins and human beings … but people in southern Australia have been noticing that there's a bit of eye irritation and throat and lung irritation that happens when they go out into the water when there's an algae bloom happening.' Dr Keneally stressed while we don't hear about it often, events like this are 'similar to a bushfire or other environmental catastrophes'. 'It can be quite scary when something like this happens, especially when you don't know what to expect … getting people used to the idea of it potentially happening in their own coastal waters is important when it comes to awareness.' 'The rapid mobilisation of Australia's research is going to be really important to forecasting these things and looking at mitigation in the future … we need to take action, or otherwise these things are going to become the new normal.' Dead sea life from algal blooms at Foul Bay, Yorke Peninsula. Stefan Andrews courtesy Great Southern Reef Foundation Credit: Supplied Shadow Water, Fisheries and Forestry and Emergency Management Minister Ross Cadell spoke to ABC Radio earlier this week about the emotional and economic impacts of algal blooms on local communities. 'You walk along the Ardrossan wharf and see garfish and King George whiting on the ground dying,' he said. 'You talk to the businesses and the Port Vincent gift shop is down (in sales) 15 per cent. 'The Stansbury caravan park, in the 48 hours before I got there, (had) 10-12 cancellations of November holidays because people are fearful of going in the water.' SA Premier Peter Malinauskas announced the Commonwealth government had provided a $14 million care package to South Australia which 'covers industry support, science and research, communications, community support and clean-up'. 'I want to thank the Commonwealth for their contribution … towards this effort,' he said 'We stand ready to deliver additional support if and when it is needed.'
