Texas Prison Accidentally Serves Pet Food To Inmates

In a story layered with disturbing information, some prisoners in Texas made the horrifying discovery that the prison actually did, indeed, serve them pet food.

The unfortunate mealtime mix-up started with John Soules Foods, the Tyler, Texas company which failed to indicate that their boxes of "beef trimmings" were in fact intended as pet food.

The mislabeled boxes made their way down the meat broker grapevine and were ultimately sold to the Federal Bureau of Prisons to serve as jail food.

Inmates probably lower their food standards significantly, so we're guessing the meal tasted extraordinarily gross if it garnered enough complaints to launch a federal investigation.

The investigation lasted three years. Now, prisoners finally know for certain what they ate on that fateful day back in 2006.

The company is paying $392,000 to settle the case, so hopefully they will now be able to return to producing their specialty product: fajita meat.

John Soules Foods, "America's Leading Fajita Brand," normally only sells quality fajita meat to restaurants, supermarkets, and food service distributors. This "pet food" fiasco only occurred when they couldn't get some meat to freeze properly — so it's not like you should worry about every fajita you ever eat from now on, or anything.

The U.S. Attorney's Office confirms that there is no cause for further concern, assuring us that "there is no evidence that anyone who consumed any of the 'beef trimmings' product suffered any ill effects.'"

Thankfully, prison food has generally proven to be pretty decent, all things considered — some say it's even better than school food.