One Canadian man found a nasty surprise when he reached for his afternoon brew. Vv Magazine’s Allante Cathe has the details.
Jim Elliott says he bought two take-out coffees earlier this month from a Tim Hortons location in Stewiacke, Nova Scotia, and placed one of the unopened cups in his refrigerator so he could drink it later. As he re-heated the cup of coffee in his microwave the next afternoon, he opened the plastic flap to take a sip and felt something touch his lips.
He thought it might have been a tea bag, only to stick a fork in it and pull out a dead mouse. He says, “I almost threw up. I gagged… I was absolutely beside myself. What the hell? I was angry. I was hurt. I was half sick. I took the coffee and I got in the truck and I went to Tim Hortons.”
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While Elliott has received hate email accusing him of lying about his story via Facebook, which he had to deactivate, in his defense, days after the incident, the food safety division of the Agriculture Department published an online inspection report listing four deficiencies at the exact Tim Hortons he visited in Stewiacke. A deficiency noted was the “presence of pests”, although details were not given.
Elliot mentioned in an interview that he just wanted Tim Hortons to acknowledge the incident and apologize. That this was his objective from Day 1.
With internet shining a light on bizarre fast food stories and things-randomly-found in items all around the world, it is hard to know what is and isn’t real. For instance, a woman who recently found a rat sewn into a Zara dress and the case of Californian woman Anna Ayala who claimed she found a human finger in her chili from Wendy’s, only to plead guilty to attempted grand larceny serving 4 of the 9 years she was sentenced to in prison.
Interestingly enough, while a whole rat in your coffee will probably make you physically or mentally ill, it’s not rare to find rodent DNA in your food.
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Californian-based food analytics company Clear Labs published a report in May 2016 wherein “Unexpected and Missing Ingredients” were featured in analyzing burger products. The report mentions that of 258 samples from 79 brands and 22 retailers, they found 2 cases of meat in vegetarian products, 1 black bean burger with no black beans, 4.3% of products contained pathogenic DNA, 3 cases of rat DNA, and 1 case of human DNA, noting that, “While unpleasant, the presence of human DNA or rat DNA is not likely to be harmful for human health.”
Bon appétit.
RELATED LINK: Know Your Street Meat: How to Avoid Food Poisoning
Have you ever found anything ‘unexpected’ in your food or drink? Let Vv Magazine know in the comments below or tweet us @ViewtheVibe.
