{"id":69086,"date":"2026-06-06T00:11:44","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T04:11:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=69086"},"modified":"2026-06-06T00:11:53","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T04:11:53","slug":"worms-in-popular-grocery-item-sickened-fl-mom-child","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/06\/06\/worms-in-popular-grocery-item-sickened-fl-mom-child\/","title":{"rendered":"Worms In Popular Grocery Item Sickened FL Mom, Child"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A Florida family from Okeechobee has filed a federal lawsuit against Campbell Soup Co.<\/strong> and Walmart<\/strong>, alleging they became violently ill after eating a can of SpaghettiOs<\/strong> that contained live worms.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n

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A can of Campbell’s SpaghettiOs pasta.Daniel Acker \/ Bloomberg via Getty Images file<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The lawsuit, filed by Mary Hubbard and Gregory Lovell on behalf of themselves and their minor daughter, details a highly unsettling situation that led to severe medical complications.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Incident<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

According to court records, Hubbard purchased the can of SpaghettiOs from a Walmart Supercenter in Okeechobee.<\/sup> On June 6, 2024, she served the food to herself and her young daughter.<\/sup> It wasn’t until both had already eaten portions of the meal that Hubbard noticed what appeared to be live worms or parasites actively moving around inside the food.<\/sup> She reportedly documented the contamination in multiple videos.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Claimed Illnesses and Damages<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The legal complaint emphasizes that the contamination caused significant, long-term health consequences for both the mother and child.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  • The Mother (Mary Hubbard):<\/strong> Alleges she suffered a parasitic infection, gastrointestinal illness, sepsis, liver-related complications, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and iron deficiency anemia requiring intravenous treatments.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • The Daughter:<\/strong> Allegedly suffered severe abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, a parasitic infection requiring prescription medication, and psychological injuries.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    The family is seeking unspecified damages exceeding $75,000, accusing the corporations of negligence, strict liability, breach of implied warranty, and violations of federal food-adulteration laws.<\/sup> They argue the companies failed to maintain proper food safety, inspection, and quality control standards.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Current Status of the Lawsuit<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
      \n
    • The Defendants’ Response:<\/strong> Campbell Soup Co. stated that it believes the claims lack merit and announced plans to “vigorously defend against these allegations.” Walmart noted that it prioritizes health and safety and is actively reviewing the court filing.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Recent Court Ruling:<\/strong> On June 4, 2026, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the complaint without prejudice. However, this dismissal was not based on the merits of the case<\/strong>. Instead, the judge found technical deficiencies in how the plaintiffs established federal diversity jurisdiction (failing to properly allege the exact corporate and individual citizenship status of all parties involved rather than just their residences).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Next Steps:<\/strong> The judge gave the family until June 18, 2026<\/strong>, to file an amended complaint fixing these jurisdictional paperwork issues so the lawsuit can proceed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      A Florida family from Okeechobee has filed a federal lawsuit against Campbell Soup Co. and Walmart, alleging they became violently ill after eating a can of SpaghettiOs that contained live… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":69088,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDZcLzI2MDYwNC1zcGFnaGV0dGlvcy1ycy0xYjA3ZGEud2VicD9maXQ9MTAwMCUyQzY2NyZzc2w9MSIsInR4dCI6Ildvcm1zIEluIFBvcHVsYXIgR3JvY2VyeSBJdGVtIFNpY2tlbmVkIEZMIE1vbSwgQ2hpbGQiLCJ0ZW1wbGF0ZSI6ImRvaXMiLCJmb250IjoiIiwiYmxvZ19pZCI6MTYzMDQwNjYxfQ.eUqgMfdaOq2zOrpcE-4stXyF6hQAqvWuKYp1pnvF3TIMQ"},"version":2,"media_source":"sig","attached_media":[{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/jetpack.com\/redirect\/?source=sigenerate&query=t%3DeyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvbGFrZWxhbmRnYXpldHRlLmluZm9cL25ld3NcL3dwLWNvbnRlbnRcL3VwbG9hZHNcLzIwMjZcLzA2XC8yNjA2MDQtc3BhZ2hldHRpb3MtcnMtMWIwN2RhLndlYnAiLCJ0eHQiOiJXb3JtcyBJbiBQb3B1bGFyIEdyb2NlcnkgSXRlbSBTaWNrZW5lZCBGTCBNb20sIENoaWxkIiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJkb2lzIiwiZm9udCI6IiIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE2MzA0MDY2MX0.zAZAbtEsXaopaNZUMaMWsvkK4ZGWJNOPcMnnod9YgXgMQ","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[17],"tags":[14786,14785],"class_list":["post-69086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-regional-and-world-news","tag-child","tag-worms-in-popular-grocery-item-sickened-fl-mom"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69086"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69086\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":69089,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69086\/revisions\/69089"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}