Canned foods are popular for a reason. They’re cheap, convenient, and can be quite nutritious depending on the ingredients.
However, for one man in Minnesota, his quick canned dinner turned into an unsettling experience when he opened a can of Chef Boyardee spaghetti and meatballs and found something unusual inside.
TikTok creator @casper4267, who goes by “Mr. Squirrel,” posted a video showing the shocking discovery. His clip has been viewed more than 26,700 times.
‘I Just Opened This, And There’s Worms in It’
In the video, Mr. Squirrel holds up the opened can to the camera. “Everybody, I just opened this can of Chef Boyardee, and look,” he says, panning the camera closer. “Look at that.”
On top of the thick tomato sauce, two small worm-like creatures can be seen wriggling around. “This is real,” he says. “I just opened this, and there’s worms in it.”
He wraps up by warning others to always check their packaged foods before consuming them.
Has This Happened To Other Customers?
As gross as it sounds, this isn’t the first time someone has claimed to have found something foreign in their Chef Boyardee.
Over a decade ago, a woman posted a YouTube video showing what she said was a full-grown spider inside her can of ravioli. Another woman on Facebook claimed she found bugs in hers. And in another TikTok video, a customer filmed a worm she pulled out from a can of Beefaroni, swearing it came straight from the can.
While these reports are rare, they’ve sparked a running debate online about whether canned foods are truly foolproof or just seem that way because we rarely check.
How Does Something Like This Even Happen?
Food scientists say the entire point of canning is to prevent exactly this sort of thing. The process involves heating the container to high temperatures to kill bacteria and then sealing it in a vacuum, removing oxygen so no organism can survive inside.
Without air, no living thing can grow or reproduce, which is why canned goods can sit in a pantry for years.
If something living made it into a sealed can, it likely means something went wrong during manufacturing. Either the sterilization process wasn’t done correctly, or the seal was compromised afterward.
In this case, the can itself appeared intact, which makes the incident even stranger. BroBible has reached out to Chef Boyardee’s parent company, Hometown Food Company, for clarification.
Commenters React
Viewers tried to come up with explanations.
One person speculated the can might have been expired. “Because it’s probably expired,” they wrote.
Another commenter argued that the canning process itself would make the situation impossible. “No bug could have survived the canning process,” they wrote. “No bug eggs could have survived the canning process.”
Others, though, weren’t so calm. “Wtf they doing to all our food?” one viewer said. “This [expletive] is just getting ridiculous.”
Some questioned why anyone eats Chef Boyardee at all. “Spaghetti with tomato sauce is the easiest meal to make,” one person wrote. “Why anyone would buy and eat Chef Boyardee is beyond me.”
BroBible has reached out to @casper4267 via TikTok messages for more information.