Canned mackerel filets in tomato sauce are a dietary staple for many Norwegians. While part of the national heritage, the product is also fondly ridiculed at times and nicknamed "plane crash" because of the silvery fish's appearance in the red sauce when opened.
Food producer Stabburet always uses a heating technique in the canning process to help preserve the fish, but somehow, the 1,650 cans that blew up missed out.
That meant the fish started rotting in the cans, which in turn set off gases that caused the cans to swell until they eventually burst.
"It was a highly unfortunate accident," Robert Rønning of Stabburet told VG.
Extra crews had to be called in to help clean up the stinky mess inside Stabburet's warenhouse. Rønning stressed that none of the faulty cans ever reached grocery stores.
