the power of cheese

We have been purchasing your BabyBel Mini Mild Cheddar Cheese rounds for years. We have always enjoyed your products. We purchased a bag of the cheese over this past weekend, on 15th May 2005 at Wal*Mart Super Centre. Our daughter ate one of the cheese rounds that evening and was ill. We were not sure at the time it was the cheese. Today my husband opened one of the cheeses and had to dispose of it, it was undisputedly sour and bitter. I opened another one myself and tried it, and had to spit it out as well. It was horrid! We now know what attributed to our daughter's stomach-ache on Sunday evening. We are wondering if anyone from our area has complained of any similar experiences; perhaps it was simply a bad batch or perhaps some of the products went sour while shipping? Please contact us, as this is the first unpleasant experience we have had with any of your products. Thank you."

So does the adorable mini-ness of the Babybel minis by Laughing Cow entice anyone else to buy their products?



Clare is infatuated with the mini cheese rounds, covered in a cool rip-off red wax which is all packaged neatly in fancy cellophane wrap. When I was her age, I always begged my mother to buy the tray of six or twelve square-shaped Laughing Cow mini cheeses, wrapped in an eye-pleasing silver foil. Of course I, and my family, are suckers for cheese of any kind, but when the manufacturers design them in such cute, itty bitty, awesome packages of pure dairy goodness, it keeps you coming back for more.

I am not so sure now. The unpleasant bitterness I just experienced with that Laughing Cow cheese is still haunting me; no amount of drink or toothpaste seems to exterminate the ungodly taste. Yuck.

So anyhow, the letter above was emailed to the company, perhaps we will get a reply.

This is two bad product experiences within a month. Last month we were making homemade bean and cheese enchiladas, only with the Old El Paso refried beans in a can. We have bought those beans for years and years, and on this particular evening, as I scooped the product into my pan to mix with the various seasonings, out pops a bizarre almost-triangle shaped piece of black plastic. I phoned Old El Paso which happens to be owned by General Mills. They were quite apologetic and I explained I didn't want anything free out of the deal, just wondered if anyone else from this area had a similar complaint. The customer service woman was nice and ended up sending me four coupons good for any General Mills item for free, and four coupons good for a dollar off any General Mills item.

At least it wasn't a fingertip I found in the refried beans.

Either I am having an extremely bad luck streak with my food purchases or a Higher Being up there is advising me to stop shopping at Wal*Mart Super Centres!