Everyone has failed in the kitchen before. We've all burnt the toast, overcooked the roast, undercooked the cake or even confused sugar for flour and oil for water. This list of Biggest Food Fails, however, is so extreme, that it may make you re-consider ever going to these establishments again. Even the biggest food companies can make grave mistakes when it comes to making sure their products are customer-friendly. Here are some high-profile cases of food fail. Beware: this list contains 100 percent of the daily recommended value of controversy.  

Dunkin' Donuts Uses Blackface to Sell Chocolate Doughnuts

In September 2013, the popular doughnut chain released an ad campaign in Thailand that many interpreted as inappropriate and racist.

The controversial advertisements promoted Dunkin' Donuts' new "Charcoal Donut." In the advertisement, a female model is painted in blackface and pink lipstick. She is shown holding a bitten donut placed next to text saying: "Break every rule of deliciousness." in Thai.

The ad, however, broke every rule of racial sensitivity.

"It's both bizarre and racist that Dunkin' Donuts thinks that it must color a woman's skin black and accentuate her lips with bright pink lipstick to sell a chocolate doughnut," Phil Robertson, deputy director of the Asia division of Human Rights Watch said.

Even patrons had a problem with Dunkin' Donuts' take on a charcoal model.

"WOW Racist @DunkinDonuts campaign smh What is wrong with people," one man said via Twitter.

Dunkin' Donuts apologized for the advertisement on Aug. 30 via Twitter. 

"We are working with our Thailand franchisee to immediately pull the ad. DD recognizes the insensitivity of this spot," Dunkin' Donuts said on its Twitter page in response to the above Tweet.

Dunkin' Donuts' Thailand branch, on the other hand, was not so apologetic. According to Nadim Salhani, Dunkin' Donuts Thailand CEO, negative response to the ad campaign was "paranoid American thinking."

"It's absolutely ridiculous," Salhani said. "We're not allowed to use black to promote our doughnuts? I don't get it. What's the big fuss? What if the product was white, and I painted someone white, would that be racist?"

Chobani Yogurt Gets Fizzy

Last year, Chobani was forced to recall some of its Greek yogurt cups after continued reports of illness caused by mold.

In the days leading up to the recall, some unflattering words were used to describe the popular yogurt cups: "swelling and bloating," "puffed up," "yogurt wine" and "unnervingly fizzy," to name a few.

Meanwhile, complaints on Chobani's Facebook page ranged from claims of night-long stays in hospitals to diarrhea.

Chobani said that only yogurts made in its Idaho facility labeled with the code 16-012 were a problem, which represented five percent of Chobani's total production.

Hamid Ulukaya, Chobani CEO, said that since the company did not use preservatives, a common dairy mold formed causing the fizz.

Restaurant in Isalamabad, Pakistan Bans Pakistanis From Dining

La Maison, a French restaurant in the capital of Pakistan, only opened in October 2013, but immediately failed when it banned Pakistanis from making reservations. Only Pakistanis who have dual-citizenship or are accompanied by a foreigner are allowed in the restaurant.

According to Philippe Lafforgue, owner of La Maison, the controversial policy aims only to appease Muslim traditions. Because the restaurant serves French cuisine, the food is not halal and therefore not accepted in the Islam religion. The restaurant also sells alcohol, which the religion is against.

"It's not a discrimination thing. It's a culturally sensitive thing," Lafforgue said. "How can I serve pork and booze to Pakistanis without getting into trouble? So I have a rule: no locals getting in."

An obvious flaw in Lafforgue's logic is that La Maison's employees, including the bartender, are Pakistanis.

"I cannot change the receipts of french food. So we will stand on our policies. Everybody is welcome even pakistani people with a dual national. I don't want to hurt the sensitivity of muslim people," Lafforgue said via e-mail. "I just opened this place to give to the people an authentic french cuisine .. And it is not compatible with the faith of the people here. So it will remain private."

According to NDTV, the restaurant was shut down this week and is under investigation by police.

Anthony Bourdain Slams New Mexican Trademark Frito Pie, Then Takes It Back

Food critic Anthony Bourdain might not be welcome back in New Mexico after an episode of his show, Parts Unknown.

During the episode, Bourdain visited Santa Fe's Five & Dime General Store and headed to the snack bar to try the store's "World Famous" Frito pie. When Bourdain tried the Frito pie, however, he insulted it by saying that the pie featured a "day-glow orange cheese-like substance" and canned Hormel Chili.

"New Mexico, you have many wonderful things," Bourdain said. "I think, let Texas have this one."

This fail would belong to New Mexico for stealing a Texas dish and shaming it with canned chili, but Bourdain has since backpedaled on his statements.

"He admits that 'we got it wrong' about the chili, and we'll try to correct it for future airings," Karen Reynolds, a spokeswoman for Bourdain, said in an e-mail to the Associated Press.

According to Mike Collins, store manager of Santa Fe's Five & Dime General Store, Bourdain is "completely wrong."

"I don't have any idea where he got that from," Collins said. "I mean, if we're using canned Hormel Chili then I'd like to buy stock in that because what we have is good."

Collins said that the store's Frito pie is made with chili homemade in New Mexico.

Italian Food Truck Named After Offensive Italian Slur

A food truck in Arcadiana, Louisiana wants to serve up delicious Italian foods, not Italian insults. The only problem is the food truck's name: The WOP Wagon.

According to some Italians, WOP is an offensive slur for Italian immigrants. Apparently, the term originates from the early 1900s and stands for "without passport" or "without papers."

The owner of the The WOP Wagon, on the other hand, says the term means something much more PC.

"It simply means 'without pizza,'" Adam Parma said.

Parma himself is a second-generation Italian and says he is keeping the name because he has only received complaints via the Internet.

"I've seen people lose their minds over it," he said. "It actually just meant 'without papers.' It wasn't derogatory. People who are complaining and are saying things just want to be angry."

If we listen to Parma, the Internet is the real failure, not his truck.

Research Compares Oreos to Cocaine and Morphine

According to a study performed by Connecticut College, lab rats like Oreo cookies as much as they like hard drugs.

The study, led by Professor Joseph Schroeder and his students, found an "an equally strong association between the pleasurable effects of eating Oreos and ... as they did between cocaine or morphine ..." according to the press release.

"Our research supports the theory that high-fat/ high-sugar foods stimulate the brain in the same way that drugs do," Schroeder said. "It may explain why some people can't resist these foods..."

Apparently, Oreos activate more neurons in rats' "pleasure center" than cocaine or morphine.

The study placed rats with Oreos on one side of a maze, rats with rice cakes on another side and rats injected with shots of cocaine or morphine on the third. Then the students compared how long the rats opted to stay on their side of the maze.

The Oreo-eating rats chose to "spend as much time on the 'drug side' of the maze as the rats conditioned with cocaine or morphine."

Equally as interesting is how the rats chose to eat their Oreos.

They would break it open and eat the middle first," Honohan said.

This study makes Oreos a fail because nobody wants a snack comparable to cocaine or morphine in their kids' lunchboxes. They could end up looking like this:


McDonald's Frozen McRib Looks Like Cardboard

It seems too obvious to put McDonald's on a Biggest Food Fails list, but alas, it must be done.

McDonald's McRib sandwich returns inthe winter. This year, however, eaters may be a bit more hesitant to order the sandwich after a disturbing picture of the "ribs" surfaced last year:


The above picture from Reddit claims to show frozen meat that is used to make McDonald's popular, limited-time McRib sandwich. Usually, the meat is slobbered in pretty barbecue sauce and accentuated with fresh-looking onions and pickles. In this photo, however, the meat looks flat, fake and inedible.

"My buddy works at McDonald's and sent me this photo of raw McRib meat," the caption reads.

When asked if the picture was truly frozen McRib meat, McDonald's gave a lengthy and evasive response.

"Just like a burger patty is formed to be round and flat, we form the iconic McRib in the shape of traditional ribs. We then flash freeze the patty to seal in flavor and freshness, just like you freeze meat in your own freezer, before going to our restaurants. The McRib is also known for its iconic taste, which is why we use a quality cut of pork -- pork shoulder -- to give our McRib lovers a thicker, meatier McRib experience," McDonalds said in a statement.

So basically the McRib is more like Play-Doh molded to look like ribs. Fail.

FDA Finds 12 Percent of Spices Contain Salmonella, Animal Excrement or Bugs

Any food containing animal feces is an automatic fail, which is why imported spices is at the top of our list.

According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 12 percent of the United States' imported spices are contaminated with things like rodent hair, insects parts, whole insects and salmonella.

After three years of research on imported spices, the FDA released a report stating that they found that 6.6 percent of imported spices were contaminated with salmonella, which was 1.9 times more than other FDA-regulated imported foods during the time of study. Insect parts were found twice as much in imported spice as in other imported food.

During the three-year-long study, the FDA sent back 749 shipments of spice because of salmonella contamination. In addition, 238 shipments were refused because of "filth," which includes live and dead whole insects and insect parts, animal, bird and insect excrements, sheep, dog, cat, rodent, bat and other animal hair and additional nastiness like rubber bands, bird feathers, staples, stones, twigs, plastic and synthetic fibers.

Michael Taylor, deputy commissioner for foods at the FDA, told Fox News that there was no need to stop eating spices. Jane M. Van Doren, a food and spice official at the FDA, told The New York Times that spice contamination is a "systemic challenge" most likely caused by poor processing and storage methods. 

A little spice is always nice, but, please, hold the insect parts.