ICI Radio-Canada TéléFor the non-Nigella Lawsons of us out there, cooking can – more often than not – be a hazardous experience.
I mean, come on. Open flames, burning hot oil, and sharp knives don’t really make for a safe dining experience – certainly if I’m in the kitchen, anyway.
You never really expect to be outwitted by a green pepper though, more specifically a frog that’s living inside a green pepper, because that would just be plain weird. Right? But that’s exactly what one couple in Quebec, Canada, experienced recently when they found a little guy chilling inside one.
You can have a look at the frog below:
Nicole Gagnon and Gérald Blackburn, from Saguenay, received the shock of their lives last weekend when they began chopping into the green pepper and saw the animal inside.
The couple were making dinner on Sunday, February 9 when they made the discovery, with Nicole and Gérald having no clue as to how the small amphibian ended up inside the vegetable, which they’d picked up from a local supermarket.
Nicole told Radio Canada:
It’s like the secret of Caramilk… How the frog ended up in the pepper, I don’t know!
The couple reported the animal, which was later identified as a green tree frog, to the Quebec Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPAQ).
ICI Radio-Canada TéléWhile they waited for officials to come and retrieve the frog, the couple placed both it and the pepper in a separate container.
When MAPAQ officials arrived they ultimately decided that, in order to carry out tests to discover how it came to be in the couple’s food, they had to euthanise the frog.
A spokesperson for MAPAQ told Radio Canada the frog and pepper then needed to be transferred to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency since the pepper was an imported product; the agency therefore had to follow up with distributors and carriers to find out where the frog came from.
They also explained that while it is very unusual to find an amphibian inside food, it’s not uncommon for people to contact the department because they have found dead insects, pieces of plastic or even metal. ‘If we analyse it, it’s for food security, to make sure everything is healthy for the people who have consumed it or not,’ Yohan Dallaire-Boily explained.
ICI Radio-Canada TéléFortunately, nobody ate the pepper (or the frog) and so nobody became ill. It’s just a shame the frog had to be killed in the process.
Rest in peace little froggy.
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).