This 2018 Aldi Turkey Burger Scandal Rocked The Grocery Store

Aldi has built itself a loyal customer base thanks to its affordable, private-label groceries and innovative returns policy. But the last thing shoppers would expect after a trip to the grocery chain is their food exploding. While this scenario is very, very unlikely to occur, in 2018 it became an unfortunate reality for one extremely unlucky customer, who suffered serious injuries and later went on to sue Aldi.

The victim of this unusual case was Gloria Besley, who in 2018 had purchased the Kirkwood Frozen Turkey Burgers from a Pittsburg store. Initially, nothing was amiss, and per the instructions on the packaging, she fried the frozen burgers in a small amount of oil. But as the burger hit the oil, it suddenly exploded, causing Besley to be covered in searing hot oil. She suffered severe second-degree burns, which resulted in permanent scarring to the affected areas. In 2019, she brought forward a lawsuit seeking $35,000 in damages for her injuries from Aldi. Her claim was on the basis that Aldi was negligent for not including any warnings on the packaging about potential risks associated when cooking frozen food in hot oil. 

Roughly a year after Besley's initial claim was filed, the case was settled for an undisclosed amount outside of court, and it's likely she received at least a portion of her original claim. As the case didn't go through any legal channels, we're unable to know whether Aldi was actually liable for any damages. It also didn't make any comment regarding the situation. 

The details of this strange case aren't too dissimilar from a fast food scandal that rocked the industry in 1992. In this case, an 79-year old woman suffered severe third-degree burns when she spilled a piping hot McDonald's coffee on her lap. She ended up settling with McDonald's for $200,000. This case draws clear parallels to the turkey burger debacle, as both incidents involved customers sustaining serious injuries from a store's product. However, each has also sparked ongoing debate over whether it was the company's responsibility to anticipate and prevent such "known" hazards.

In the case of the exploding Aldi turkey burger, it is a known hazard that frozen food and hot oil should never be paired together. When hot oil touches the ice particles on frozen food, the water in the ice rapidly turns to steam, forcing the oil upwards in a violent reaction that can — in severe cases like this — cause serious burns as it violently splashes out of the pan. If you're working with frozen food, the best practice is to thaw it in the refrigerator (never at room temperature) overnight. This will also boost the quality of your meal, as the inside of frozen food takes much longer to cook, which can result in a dry, overcooked exterior while the middle is still frozen solid. If you don't have time to thaw your frozen food and are craving a quick meal, a safer way to fry frozen food is with an air fryer, which uses hot air instead of potentially dangerous oil to achieve the same results.