The Calbee Four Seas Company in Hong Kong recently stumbled on a live hand grenade which had found its way into the company’s latest supply of potatoes. It was only when the machinery was not able to process the object that the team realised it wasn’t just an innocent spud!

The hand grenade had a rusty, mud-covered exterior but was still capable of causing damage. Built for Germany’s combat efforts in the Great War, the grenade was reportedly harvested alongside potatoes in France and shipped to the Hong Kong’s potato chip factory along with other vegetables.

Superintendent Wong of the Hong Kong Police Force said; “Since the grenade had not blown up at the time it was thrown, there was an immediate danger that needed to be handled right away,” and his team used a ‘high-pressure water firing technique’ to safely explode the grenade in an empty alleyway.

Although the device was nearly five-times as heavy as a potato, it was close enough in size to resemble one and to be accidentally included in the harvest.

To this day, cities in countries across the continent unearth undetonated bombs and explosive devices from the Great War. “Many hand grenades are left behind during bombardments when an entire trench is buried,” explained Kwong Chi-Man, a military historian and assistant professor of history at Hong Kong Baptist University.

“It doesn’t matter how old these things are, they can still be a threat,” added Franco David Macri, who is a senior research fellow in the history department at Hong Kong University.

As for this particular chip factory and its surprising discovery, the police were able to safely detonate the discovered device and prevent any injury or harm.