Sometimes life hands you a bug in your beans....

Last night I had an unfortunate encounter with a beetle in my black eyed peas. The following is the email I sent to the company who produced said beans:

I love black eyed peas. They are just about my favorite vegetable. Today on my way home, I thought "Black eyed peas would sure taste good with the fish I'm making for dinner!" so I stopped at Kroger to buy some. I bought your brand purely because it had jalapenos in it and I thought that would be great, plus - my husband loves jalapenos. After making the unplanned stop JUST TO GET THE BLACK EYED PEAS -- I was starving and so looking forward to my peas and fish. I got a lovely dinner on the table and sat down with my family for a meal that I was truly excited about. That's when it all went wrong. Imagine my horror, disgust and extreme disappointment when the very first bite I lifted to my mouth contained a black BEETLE. Yes, a beetle, not a pea, an actual gross bug. First, thank GOD I am a somewhat picky eater and tend to inspect every bite before I eat it and second, I know that Bear Grylls eats worse than beetles every night on Man Vs. Wild but son of a gun.. this is MY KITCHEN where I expect my food to be cooked and BUG FREE! If I want to eat a bug, I will go outside and get one. So far that urge has never overtaken me and I don't expect it to anytime soon.What I am getting at here is that there was a beetle in my black eyed peas. I took pictures and will be happy to send them to you but I suspect that you know the exact type of beetle I am referring to as I imagine that they are all over at your factory. It's probably a sheer miracle that I haven't found one before. I know the FDA allows you to have a certain amount of bug in your product and I can deal with the knowledge of that but not the reality. As I mentioned earlier - black eyed peas have been just about my favorite vegetable and now I fear that I may be off of them forever because of the Tuesday night beetle in Allen's Jalapeno Pepper Peas.I am hoping that your sense of pride will allow you to refund my purchase price of $1.25 plus tax. I am not a litigous person and frankly, I realize that a beetle is not nearly on the same level as a mouse or a thumb -- however had I found one of those items, you would be receiving a very different email. All things considered, the only real harm here is my newfound aversion to Allen's Jalapeno Pepper Peas - which ultimately hurts you more than me.I will look forward to a reply in the near future and to receiving my refund of $1.25 plus tax.
Still hungry,Ann Carne

I have no idea what the response will be, if any but I will keep you posted!

Happy eating!