#%*&@$ $%&*@#!

In today's Pioneer Press, there was a story about efforts by companies to develop new processed food products. Basically, the race to create the next Cheerios.

Just what we need -- more process food. But that's not what got my attention.

The accompanying photo by Rich Marshall shows a woman in a food service hair net and blue latex gloves taking a bite of something. The caption below the photo reads:

"Uh, it's turning into a cluster," Cargill food technologist Betsy Stefan, of St. Paul, said of a mango tomato bar. She said the bar needed a "stiffer tomato binder."

Excuse me? It's turning into a what?

Maybe my mind is taking the low road, but the only thing I can think she means is "cluster f__k." I know at least one person who uses "cluster" as a shorthand euphemism for that term, although I haven't been able to turn up any usage examples in a search online.

I wonder if the copy editor wondered about the term? Obviously not enough to do anything about it before the print deadline.

Interestingly, though, on the PiPress website, the caption says simply:

Betsy Stefan, of St. Paul, said this mango tomato bar "blooms more in your mouth at the end" but needs a "stiffer tomato binder."

Hmmm. Maybe someone decoded the obscure word after the print deadline after all.