You could probably get a replacement even if the jar is completely empty. I used to work customer service in a grocery store. One time a guy returned an empty wine bottle. I gave him a full refund. Why? Because the company steals from their employees every single day. I'm just evening the playing field a bit. Just don't be an asshole, and you'll probably get what you want.

I went to Tesco (a large (perhaps too large ((brackets)) grocery retailer in the UK) a while back with some raspberries that hadn't even lasted until I got home before going mouldy.

Literally, all I wanted to do was show the customer service desk lass the issue, show them my receipt, get a replacement, and fuck off to make the interaction as easy as possible for them.

An honest appraisal of what the problem was; some witty banter; and a general understanding of the "don't be a dickhead" principle to frontline staff meant that she kept hold of me for ten minutes, noted down details and times and whatnot, and it ended up with a £10 apology gift card in the post - which in turn purchased a rather nice bottle of wine.

Where I'm going with this: I cannot fathom how people cannot be polite about issues like this. I've never understood how being a wanker to someone whose job it is to sort issues out somehow nets you a better end result. Perhaps the best advice I'm going to give my kids is to spend six months or a year of their teenage starts to their careers in an inbound call centre in a field they're interested in - yes the job can grind you down and yes the pay sucks, but the basic life skills and soft people skills it teaches you is fucking invaluable.

tl;dr: solid advice, ask nicely, don't be a twat, and you'll probably end up with a net result better than you started.

You'll probably get a lot more by contacting the manufacturer. It's not uncommon for them to give a bunch of free stuff.

Plus, it alerts them to a potential production/QA issue so they can address it.

Yeah 100%

Normally I wouldn't bother on something that is pretty cheap, but if one failed to seal, they really need to sample the batch and see if a recall is necessary. Botulism is no joke.

A proper jam recipe is generally too acidic for botulism.

My grandfather complained to a company about broken pretzels in his pretzel bag and they sent him a case of pretzels and not one was broken.

Some stores will even double your money back.

My partner got a chicken salad from a local co-op we love, but into a chicken piece, and it was pink and shiny on the inside. They brought it back and showed a clerk who was MORTIFIED. My partner wasn’t mad or anything, just a little worried about getting sick (which didn’t happen, thankfully!) and the co-op immediately took all of their chicken salad packs and threw them away. We didn’t even ask for a refund but we got a refund anyway.

I've done this with jam without issues for may years, my parents taught me. It's fine.

This is true, but I wouldn't do it when the jam is very liquid. And if your jam starts to mold fast, it means it doesn't contain extra chemicals to keep it good as well as much less sugar. So it's better if it molds faster. Just keep it in the fridge and eat it fast. Many store bought factory jams can stay good for over a year after being opened. Imagine what it takes to keep it from molding.

No. Look I don't care how many other commenters are agreeing with you, it's wrong. The tendrils go deep and just because you can't see them doesn't mean they're not there and not a toxic surprise waiting for you.

Just snort the mold off and eat it like a champion

Do you happen to have the forms required?

Extra protein.

That’s disgusting.

You should always scrape the visible part off, and keep going until there are no more visible spots. Try not to skim too much of course.

You’ll still get all the extra protein from the mycelia but without the green fruiting bodies. 🤮

well there’s the mold

Might have had one of those pop up buttons to show the seal is broken. Ideally a stocker would see it, or the customer when selecting it, but I wonder how many people look that closely.

Not true. My mom's jams get moldy all the time. Maybe not all jams are acidic enough.

My moms jams do get moldy though.

The lice hate the powdered sugar.

I'll add on that with some more info:

Milt does not really like sugar. Not as a medium to grow in. So, anything high sugar you can, in fact just scoop it out. But, be aware, the mycelium of molt is toxic. So, anything where molt can grow through, like bread or a European Salsa (we don't have that much sugar in them) throw it out . And if it grows back: THROW IT OUT.

I grew up with home made jam from my Nan when she was still here, & then my mum. Mould on the top of a jar of jam that had already been open a while was fairly common back then. You’d just scoop it off & go about your day.

However this is shop bought jam, & as long as it was recently purchased, or even if it was sealed & within date but not recently purchased I’d still complain to the shop or manufacturer, as I’d expect better from commercially made produce.

This is the most sane answer, why does it have 50% downvotes??

depending on the gelatin used that could make you go blind, lose your hearing, and then kill you.