I’ve never tasted milk that contained the corpse of a dead mouse, so I can’t say whether or not it would be noticeable, but a couple in Kentucky claim they drank three days’ worth of moused-up milk they’d purchased at Sam’s Club before ever noticing the rotting rodent inside. Now, as happens in these situations, they have filed a lawsuit.
The suit, which was filed earlier this week against Sam’s Club’s parent company Walmart, says the couple purchased the jug of milk at Sam’s and then, with the help of their 23-month-old granddaughter, spent the next three days drinking from it.
On the third day, the woman involved went to pour some milk and “discovered a dead mouse” in the jug.
The gallon of milk — along with the rodent — was taken to the Kentucky Department of Public Health where the couple filed a written complaint.
According to the suit, the family “suffered embarrassment, humiliation and emotional distress.”
The plaintiffs also claim that their granddaughter had blood in her stool after consuming the allegedly contaminated milk.
“This has been a traumatic experience for the Grants,” says their lawyer. “They were completely shocked.”
In addition to Walmart, the suit names Superior Dairy Inc., of Ohio, as a defendant. The family is seeking non-economic and punitive damages through a trial by jury.
Without having much to go on here, what’s your gut instinct on the plaintiffs’ allegations — scam or the real deal?
Louisville KY Injury News: Family Sues Walmart After Finding Dead Mouse In Milk [JusticeNewsflash.com]
More From Consumerist
-
If People Want To Drink Raw Milk, Should Dairy Farmers Be Able To Sell It To Them?
-
Dairy Industry Worried That The Answer To “Got Milk?” These Days Is: “Nope.”
-
Is A “Quadriginoctuple Frap” The Priciest Starbucks Drink Ever Ordered Or A Scary Medical Procedure?
-
Here Are This Year’s Most Unhealthy Restaurant Dishes (Some Of Which Sound Pretty Good)
-
NYC Baristas Facing A Tangled Web Of Rules Balancing Sugar, Calorie & Milk
“suffered embarrassment, humiliation and emotional distress.”
That says it all IMHO ===someone is looking for a payday.
Scam.
I vote for scam as well. I wonder if the dairy makes their own bottles or if they bring the bottles in already made. I would imagine that the bigger operations would blow out their own bottles from blanks in factory thus decreasing by a ton the likelihood that this is a legitimate claim. If the bottles come into the factory premade, I would think that they would have to do some kind of sterilization before bottling to ensure they are clean (and mousefree). I wonder if there is any way of telling how long the mouse had been in the bottle based on the amount of decomposition. They could even do a test like on CSI and get a couple jugs of milk, stick a mouse in them, put them in the fridge, and pour a few cups of milk off every day until the end of the 3 days.
Probably a scam. It’s a very contained process. They will actually examine the mouse to see if it had any milk in it’s system (went in the empty container alive before the milk and drowned) or if the mouse’s neck was broken and already dead (no milk will be in the mouse) when put in the milk. We had an incident once where a disgruntled employee killed a mouse and put it in the container before the milk and that is how he was found out.
Some things to consider…
The milk was in their possession for 3 days and when the container was brought to the authorities, it was already open. They will likely be challenged to prove that the rodent did not get into the container while it was in their possession. Hint: the mouse DNA can be tested and its approximate origin location might be determinable. If it is related to Ohio mice in the area of the dairy, then that is one thing. If it matches that of mice in or around the plaintiff’s location, that is another. As with the coke-can hypodermic fraud of a few years ago, an examination of the manufacturing process may show that it is possible or impossible for a rodent to have access to the container. It seems unlikely that the rodent could have gotten into the container during storage or shipping as that would have caused a leak and would have been noticeable.
Yeh because Sam’s and Walmart have cows in the back and they milk them and bottle the milk themselves. And last time I checked Sam’s had see through Milk cartons. I call shenanigans.
Sounds like Bob & Doug McKenzie taking a trip to the beer store.
No way. First, there would be an off-taste. Second, having worked in a plant that bottles beverages, it is nigh impossible for something the size of a mouse to contaminate the inside of beverage containers.
“The plaintiffs also claim that their granddaughter had blood in her stool after consuming the allegedly contaminated milk.”
So, did they take her to the doctor? If so, then there will be a medical record that would indicate some disease or infection that could be gotten from a dead rat. If not… then this claim by itself is pretty much strong enough evidence that they’re lying. Besides, how do you not notice a dead rat in a milk jug?