Target looks into (dead)mouse in (maple)syrup claim - EWWWWWW!

Minneapolis StarTribune (aka The Red Star) ^ | 12/03/10 | Paul Walsh - Staff Reporter

[MplsSteve]

Target said Friday that it's taking seriously a woman's claim that a dead mouse stuck at the bottom of her store-brand pancake syrup bottle got there during the manufacturing process.

Rena Snyder, 36, of Dassel, Minn., said she made the discovery Tuesday morning while eating waffles and syrup at her mother's house in nearby Cokato. The 24-ounce Market Pantry Light syrup was bought by her mother at a Target store in Hutchinson.

Snyder, who is expecting a baby late this month, said she came down with an intestinal illness for more than a day after eating the syrup.

Target representatives "have been very supportive and apologetic," said Snyder, who added that she's never made such a claim before about finding a foreign object in food.

[PalmettoMason]

I got that reference, ya hoser!
LOL. One of my all time “silly” films.

[PowderMonkey]

"I still have my doubts. A mouse just isn’t going to crawl into an empty bottle unless there is food in it."

I dunno...I used to work in a Montgomery Wards tire shop many years ago. One evening a man brought his car in complaining that his front tires had lost balance, making the front end shake at high speed. First thing I found when I removed the hub cap from the right front wheel was a dead rat. Mummified and flat as a frizbee, it had become adhered to wheel rim, firmly pinned there by the hub cap. Horrified by the find, the man recalled a having removed and replaced that hubcap several nights previous...with some difficulty.

[~Vor~]

Against my better judgement, I sent this story to my very liberal sister in MN and warned her that she might want to lay off the pancakes for a while...

[rideharddiefast]

In retrospect, I coulda *OWNED* that hotdog cart!

Maybe, but would you have wanted to?

[CalvaryJohn]

These guys found one in a beer.

[elli1]

She acknowledged that her husband has contacted an attorney...

and I'm sure that Target ran this little story right down to the newspaper. /s

I'm calling 'Hoax'.

[6SJ7]

I once bit into a metal screw in a Polish sausage purchased from a street vendor. I took it back and he gave me a different sausage.

"Hey, I ordered a polish sausage with philips head screws and you gave me one with slotted."

"Oh, sorry buddy! Let me make you another. You want a free side of locking washers with that?"

[Doc Savage]

Wait just a minute! First of all Minnesota is communist gulag, not a real state. Second, with food rationing and starvation common in Minnesota how did this woman get her hands on real maple syrup,HUH? Yeah smart guys, just answer me that!!!

[Jim from C-Town]

As you have stated in your dog food analogy, the long mouse was virtually mummified and not in good shape. Check out the mouse in the picture, it is intact. NO WAY THIS WAS IN THE SYRUP AT ANY POINT PRIOR TO THE CONSUMER PUTTING IT IN THEIR.

Dog food manufacturers are under significantly less scrutiny than those who manufacture food meant for human consumption. I am not just talking about the FDA, but also the slip and fall lawyers who would bankrupt all manner of food manufacturers in the event of food born illnesses or contamination. Particularly by rodents and their fecal matter.

One look at the picture will tell any trained person that this is a fraud case all the way. Plant managers do not receive bonuses for allowing tainted product to leave their plants, they receive pink slips for this type of situation. I have been in all manner of food production plants from rendering plants to bakeries to frozen food manufacturing. The idea that a mouse would get into a package like this at the point of production is not only highly unlikely it is damn near impossible. For the rodent to be the least bit recognizable as an animal IS impossible. Particularly in this type of processed liquid production.

[Jim from C-Town]

By the way, totally gross story. I believe it because I have also been in animal feed processing plants and the difference between those and food plants for humans is night and day. Mainly because the regulations are more lax, and in the event of a contamination the loss would be only for the dollar value of the pet or animal.

[Jim Noble]

I was an expert witness in one of the first "bloody band-aid in a pizza" cases, and have followed with interest all of the bizarre offspring of those first cases.

None of these allegations are true - not one, not ever.

[Jim from C-Town]

usually the only difference between a store brand and a name brand is the actual label. The major savings in the store brand is in marketing.

The cost of marketing a major national brand is a significant portion of the final cost of the product. This is how the store brand is so much cheaper.

The store brand rides the coat tails of the name brands. They are almost always positioned directly next to the name brands. The label are similar, right down to the color of the labels and if possible the shape of the bottles (some bottle shapes and packaging shapes are patented, the new contour Coke 2 liter bottles for example). The idea being that national brands have a perceived higher quality. This leads to a better value even at a price that could be double the price of the store brand.

Look at the Market Pantry syrup in which the woman claims to have found the mouse. The package is virtually identical to Log Cabin syrup. Same exact bottle, same label colors. You could accidentally pick up this package at the store and think that you had Log Cabin syrup.

This does not mean that every store brand is made in the same plant, or has the exact same or amount of ingredients, but many name brands are made by private packagers to the same standards as the store bands, on the same lines and at the same time. The only difference being the package at the end of the line.