Little Debbie Spokesman Says Biology And Math Present Problems For Video Showing Larvae In Unopened Snack Cake

Little Debbie spokesperson, Mike Gloekler reached out to Madison & Shepherd to challenge the claim that worms found in one Tuscaloosa man’s unopened Oatmeal Creme Pie originated from their facility.

Communications & Public Relations Manager for McKee Foods, the maker of the Little Debbie snack cakes, called in to the morning show to directly respond to a viral video posted on Facebook earlier in the week. He made a compelling case for the integrity of his company's policy toward quality control after Steve Young from Tuscaloosa, Alabama posted what appeared to be an unopened Oatmeal Creme Pie with two worms feasting inside. The clip was viewed over 500,000 times.

‘Food purity is a very serious topic. It’s our number one priority,’ Gloekler insisted on-air. ‘We want to make sure we put out good products for people. ‘

Gloekler said any claims that challenge the quality of their snack cakes are aggressively researched. Young’s video raised enough concern that the company sent their district sales representative to meet with him. Neither party left the meeting satisfied with the outcome.

‘Our sales rep didn’t feel like there was too much interest in a resolution, so we have just continued to look into it on our end to make sure there’s not a problem with our processes.’

Gloekler emphasized there were numerous checks and balances in place to ensure scenarios such as this aren't originated from their facility but further investigation was thwarted when Young refused to provide the company with a sample.

Based on evidence presented in the video, the spokesman for Little Debbie said their team had determined the worms appeared to be a pantry moth larvae, which is a common household pest found in various pantry stores like flour or cereal. “In this case unfortunately, it was on our product.’

’Looking at that larvae, we were estimating that it was approximately 72-hours old. The gestation from egg to that point- to the point of hatching- is only about 4-7 days, depending on temperature.’

Michael Young initially claimed the box of snack cakes had been in his pantry for a couple of weeks before his family demolished most of the box of cakes. Gloekler said science presents a problem based on Young’s own timeline at the beginning of Oatmeal Creme Pie Gate.

‘If you look at biology and math, it just doesn’t add up to coming out of our from our facility.’ Gloekler said Young’s lot of Oatmeal Creme pies left the Little Debbie facility at the end of May.

The appearance of the unwrapped pie in the video presented additional questions. ‘Our products are puffed with air so there’s a bit of cushion there, and it’s pretty clear that wrap doesn’t have the puff of air, so there is a breach somewhere. He added the moths would bore through plastic to get to what they want.’

The company would still like to test the cake. ‘We want to send it off to have it independently tested. We want have that larvae DNA tested to determine conclusively what it is,’ Gloekler said.

In the meantime, he encouraged Mr. Young to check his stocks of flour, bags of sugar, cereal, rice, or pasta. He said the 6000 people employed with the company will continue to work hard every day to make sure the United States of America has good product in their pantry.

Gloekler said he would be happy to send the sales rep back to Mr. Young’s to pick up a sample for testing so a conclusive answer could be determined.

‘If it was a problem with our facility, we’d be the first to say ‘Hey, it’s a problem and we’re gonna fix it', but I just don’t think that’s the case.’

Listen to the entire interview with Little Debbie spokesperson Mike Gloekler at the link below, then be sure and show some love for their Oatmeal Creme Pies this weekend.

I think they deserve it.