So last night I finished watching PAD and had a little late night munchies going so decided to goto my kitchen and open a can of progresso new england clam chowder...

I noticed the can was a little mishapen but figured maybe it had fallen to the ground at some point.. no big deal I figure

I tear the label off cause I was gonna cook it inside the can on my oven (ghetto style I know)...

I go to open the can with the finger tab on the top and saw that it wasnt completely down flat (I had a tiny bit of room to grab the tab)

I just barely get my finger under the tab and apply pressure and.....

BOOOOM

I get blown backwards nearly off my feet and am completely disoriented!
I cant see for a few seconds and it takes even longer to regain hearing and for the ringing to stop

I didnt even know what had happened, I thought there was a true explosion. The noise was lounder than a pistol.

There was clam chowder all across my kictchen and walls!

The entire metal top had been blown out with a world of force, luckily it was aimed away from my face.

It was exactly like a stun grenade in the video games and tv shows...

Upon checking the can today I noticed the entire bottom was pushed out slightly convex because of the internal force within the can

Truly a bizarre situation

What would you do?

Ill give the results of the phone call with progresso later





Notice the seam on the bottom of the can that has been pushed out due to internal pressure


And here are the tiny dents I noticed after the fact, also strange

You got through to a real person?

Watch out for symptoms of botulism, that can may still do you in. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botulism

Did you post this on pocket five's also?

CSB

So you cooked it on top of the stove without opening it?

What the **** did you expect to happen? I mean, who would think that heating up something that is in an enclosed container would create pressure on the inside?

Please tell me I have bad reading comprehension. I hope you get through to Progresso and they laugh at you and put your phone call on their list of stupidest consumers in the world.

You have bad reading comprehension
--------
Read OP again:

I tear the label off cause I was gonna cook it inside the can on my oven (ghetto style I know)...

I go to open the can with the finger tab on the top and saw that it wasnt completely down flat (I had a tiny bit of room to grab the tab)

I just barely get my finger under the tab and apply pressure and.....

BOOOOM


-----

OP opened the can PLANNING to cook it in the can, then it exploded

Ya I posted at pocket fives...

No the can was uncooked and cold when I was opening it.
Obviously it would be my fault if I heated it up then tried opening LOL

Ya, I got through to a real person... they told me they would send me some coupons for free general mills products or whatever... They took information and barcode etc from the can, but did not want to see the can.

Also the expiration wasnt until october 2011

Ah ok.

Then I take back what I said. I misunderstood.

This is pretty bad, imo.

Very sorry.

botulism bacteria was growing in the can because air got in through tiny holes created by the dents.

wow, thank god i didnt eat the remainder of the soup. sounds like that would have been a FAIL!

You fat cats not eating your botox-chowder make me sad.

lol @ considering eating the rest of the soup

+1

i would suggest eating some of the soup, you'll get incredibly ill but will be able to sue the **** out of them. the can exploded because of something decomposing inside, if it's that bad you'll almost die from it.

make sure you don't actually die though because payouts for death <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< any kind of injury

sure...

I don't know what anaerobic means but I don't think the can would swell if there were holes in it.

blackmail them op.

tell them your going to sell the story to the papers and it will be bad PR for them.

You are American right?
You should get at least 5 mirrion out of this.

http://www.explosm.net/comics/2120/

this is all I can think of for some reason

the air getting in isn't causing the bacteria to grow, but it not being airtight caused the problem.

We are talking about foodborne botulism here, that means the can of soup has not been processed properly in the factory.

The can was mishaped cause the bacteria already started producing toxins from the start ( anaerobic conditions means "without air") and not because it happened to be pierced later. (Just read the Bon Vivant incident ).

If the can happened to be pierced it wouldn't be mishaped and the soup wouldn't look that good : it would be a mushroom orgy in the tin.

Let just say OP just dodged some serious consequences if the can didn't build up that much pressure and didn't reheat the content properly.


Sending few coupons and closing the case with OP is way EV++++++ for the company : so cheap to get away with it and dodging a FDA inquiry.