It’s an unsettling sight: hundreds of pounds of soggy pasta — a varied array of noodles — piled in a wooded area of New Jersey.
The gluten-filled hoard was discovered last month and has since triggered an investigation by authorities in Old Bridge, N.J., where the pasta was left to rot.
Local resident and city town council candidate Nina Jochnowitz shared news of the pasta piles on Facebook on April 26. She estimated there to be about 500 pounds of dumped pasta along the river basin in Old Bridge.
In photos from the bizarre scene, spaghetti, macaroni and a smattering of ziti can be seen lining the watershed in impressive, limp stacks.
It is not yet clear how, or why, the pasta was dumped.
Though litter is apparently an ongoing issue in the area, Jochnowitz said this was “a new kind of dumping, of excessive food.”
On Friday, Jochnowitz shared an update to social media claiming the quarter-ton of pasta had been removed.
Jochnowitz, whose council campaign highlights the need to clean the town’s waterways of litter, thanked Old Bridge’s public works department for “a rapid cleanup” of the mess. She called the removal “Mission Impastable.”
Old Bridge Business Administrator Himanshu Shah told USA Today that the public works team, usually tasked with disposing of leaves and litter, removed 15 wheelbarrows of pasta from the area around the basin.
Shah said the pasta, though uncooked when it was dumped, turned moist and soggy over time.
Police are currently investigating the incident. In the meantime, social media users amused by the strange find have joked that authorities should look into “Al Dente” as a lead suspect.
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