World War II Grenade Found at French Fry Factory
Workers at a chip factory in Auckland, New Zealand, had to call in reinforcements when what they thought was a “muddy potato ” turned out to be a World War II-era grenade.
Upon discovering the grenade, the East Tamaki Mr. Chips factory, which produces french fries, called in the local bomb squad, the New Zealand Herald reported .
One of the workers who spotted the grenade on the conveyer belt initially thought it was simply a dirty spud.
“Richard Teurukura was watching the conveyor belt in the ‘potato receiving area’ of the factory when he noticed the muddy potato,’” the Paris Beacon reported . “The operator cleaned the tubercle and showed it to one of his colleagues, who automatically assured that it was a pomegranate.”
When they realized it wasn’t, the workers called the authorities.
An investigation into the incident revealed the grenade to be a training version of a World War II hand grenade known as a “Mills bomb ,” and contained no explosives. It was dug up along with 28 tons of Ranger Russet potatoes from a farm in Matama .
“The bomb squad then came out and did a whole assessment of the grenade, before they determined that it was in fact an inert training grenade,” operations manager Roland Spitaels told the local news.
Luckily this spud was a dud.
Originally published on Military Times , our sister publication.