Wal-Mart's Trail Mix Ingredients: Raisins, Nuts, Cashews, and Glass?!

Wal-Mart recalls trail mix after 3 reports of glass or plastic found inside

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. recalled a house brand of trail mix and took remaining bags off shelves nationwide after three customers said they found glass or hard plastic in bags bought in two states, the retailer and the mix's maker said Tuesday.

Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart said it ordered stores over the weekend to remove Sam's Choice "Nature Trail" Trail Mix from sale. It also programed cash registers at all stores to block sales of the product, spokeswoman Karen Burk said.

The product is supplied to Wal-Mart by Jessup, Md.-based Ann's House of Nuts.

Jim Giles, vice president of quality assurance for Ann's, said the company had launched an investigation at its plant in Robersonville, N.C., where the trail mix was produced.

Giles said three Wal-Mart customers in Ohio and North Carolina had called the retailer to report finding what looked like glass or hard plastic particles in 28-ounce bags of the product. The bags had not yet been collected from the consumers, but one consumer described the particles as being "about the size of a 1-carat diamond," Giles said.

No injuries were reported, he said.

Ann's has asked a food lab to collect the bags and analyze the contents to determine what kind of product the glass or plastic came from, which could help determine the source of the problem, Giles said.

"We're thinking that maybe it was in one of the six ingredients in this product," he said.

But Ann's is still looking at other possibilities and plans to interview the production line crew when they return to work Wednesday from a New Year's break.

There was no evidence of deliberate tampering, and law enforcement officials were not involved, Giles said.

Ann's produces over 30 million bags a year of various brands of trail mix and has had no other complaints like this, Giles said.

Wal-Mart said the Sam's Choice "Nature Trail" in question is marked "Best by APR-23-2007." The bags are also marked "MFG OCT-23-2006" to reflect the manufacturing date.

Wal-Mart asked customers who purchased the affected trail mix to return the product for a full refund or replacement.