Everything can be recorded, amplified through social media: Worm found in Connecticut school lunch

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A worm discovered in a fruit cup served for lunch at Sheehan High School in Wallingford has some parents worrying about food safety. The director of food services confirmed Monday that a fruit worm was found in one fruit cup served for lunch and was sent to a lab for testing.

willywormParents took to Facebook Monday morning expressing concerns after parent Kimberly Davidson posted several cell phone photos taken by students showing worms and a moldy loaf of bread served for lunch at Sheehan. At least three separate pictures appear to depict worms in the school lunches.

Davidson said her daughter sent her a picture of a worm from her fruit cup several weeks ago via Snapchat and last week overheard several other students complaining about finding similar bugs in their food. Davidson said she was contacted by Gini Selvaggi on Friday saying her daughter had also found a worm in her fruit cup that week at Sheehan.

“What are they feeding our kids?” Davidson asked. “It looks like a maggot.”

“It’s kind of gross that this is an ongoing problem,” Selvaggi said.

After seeing the pictures posted on social media, Town Councilor Christine Mansfield reached out to Food Services Director Sharlene Wong, who confirmed that a worm had been discovered, not a maggot.

“It was a fruit worm that was found in the cupped fruit,” Wong wrote. “The distributor was contacted and a QA review started. The company came to pick up the worm and the supposed fruit cup it was in. My understanding is that it is being sent to a lab for testing.”

Wong said she had also received a letter from the company that packs the canned fruit.

“They stated that ‘organic matter’ can appear because it is impossible for fruit to be defect free due to the limited amount of pesticides being used in orchards,” she wrote. “They process thousands of pounds of fruit through the high speed processing line and a fruit worm could be in the middle of a piece of fruit and make it into the can. The canning process cooks the organic material. They stated there was no danger of any foreign matter surviving.”