Confusion as 500 pounds of cooked pasta is dumped by stream

A bizarre mystery is unfolding in a New Jersey town after 500 pounds of cooked spaghetti, ziti and elbow macaroni were found dumped by a stream.

The carb pollution was found last month when a local resident took a stroll along a wooded area near their home in Old Bridge Township, New Jersey, US.

The resident contacted their township to report the dumped pasta and then contacted Nina Jochnowitz, a local advocate who previously ran for city council in the sixth ward.

Jochnowitz contacted the township herself but when she didn't get a reply, she decided to head down to the stream to take pictures herself where all the thin strands of spaghetti devoid of any sauce, meatballs or parmesan lay abandoned and cold.

She posted the odd pictures on her public Facebook page on 27 April and the locals and conspiracy theorists online who have eaten up the weird snaps and gone wild.

Nina Jochnowitz/Facebook

“We should send the perpetrators to the state penne tentiary,” one Reddit user joked.

Up to this point we all thought breaking pasta to fit the pot was the biggest crime but dumping what appears to be perfectly al dente pasta almost takes the cake.

Before you go down to the woods today to nibble on a strand of abandoned spaghetti, the mountains of pasta were cleaned up by Public Works however the culprit has yet to be found.

Dumped pasta could actually cause an environment issue on top of all the other problems with dumping food waste out in public.

“You might say, ‘Who cares about pasta?’ But pasta has a pH level that will impact the water stream,” Jochnowitz told The Philadelphia Inquirer.

“The water stream is important to clean up because it feeds into the town’s water supply… it was one of the fastest clean-ups I’ve ever seen here.”

Nina Jochnowitz/Facebook

Old Bridge Township has a population of 66,000 and public cleanup issues have been an issue in the area even before the pasta mystery.

“The Department of Public Works cleaned it up. They are a great group of people. When given the right opportunity they do the right thing,” Jochnowitz explained further.

“Unfortunately, they are typically overwhelmed.”

In the Facebook post accompanying the picture, Jochnowitz wrote: “The Mayor and his (posse) continue to ignore the Sixth Ward. No surprise when we see the dumping of construction and other garbage spewed in all of the neighbourhoods.

“This week, there was a new type of dumping, of excessive food, PASTA.”

Someone call Netflix right now.

In a statement shared with TODAY, a representative for Old Bridge shed some light on the mystery.

"On April 28, 2023 pictures of illegally dumped pasta started to circulate on several local Facebook groups," Himanshu Shah, business administrator for Old Bridge Township, said in the statement.

“DPW visited the site and did in fact find what appeared to be 15 wheel barrell loads of illegal dumped pasta along a creek in a residential neighbourhood,” Shah said, adding that the Public Works contacted local police.

“We would estimate several hundred pounds of uncooked pasta that was removed from the packaging and then dumped along the creek.

"It looks like it was only there for a short time but moisture did start to soften some of the pasta.”

The investigation continues and it’s only a matter of time before we get a true crime doc about the mystery. Don’t F--k with Pasta: Hunting a Pasta Abandoner, anyone?

LADbible has contacted Old Bridge Township for further comment.

Topics: Food And Drink, US News, Weird

Gregory Robinson

Gregory is a journalist for LADbible. After graduating with a master's degree in journalism, he has worked for both print and online publications and is particularly interested in TV, (pop) music and lifestyle. He loves Madonna, teen dramas from the '90s and prefers tea over coffee.