Restaurant: Mouse was placed in salad as a prank
COLUMBIA, S.C. - The dead mouse a teenager says he found in his salad at a Spartanburg Ruby Tuesday appears to be the result of a prank, the restaurant chain said Tuesday.
“After a very thorough and patient review of findings, we have concluded that our company, its restaurant, and our many hardworking team members are the victims of a hoax,” the Maryville, Tenn., company said in a release.
On July 30, 17-year-old Edward Viehman said he found a mouse in his spring mix salad. Since the incident, the restaurant, which gets ready-to-eat salad items from a distributor, has said it was not to blame.
An examination of the mouse, which Ruby Tuesday said was 6 1/2 inches in length, has shown that there were no rodent hairs or fecal matter present in the salad mix. No salad was not found in the mouse’s stomach.
Those factors indicate that the mouse couldn’t have entered the restaurant in the salad bag and had not been in the salad mix for a long time.
The report also concluded that the mouse was not captured at the Ruby Tuesday in Spartanburg because of its clean record on previous pest and health inspections. Health officials have said the restaurant scored a 98 out of a possible 100 on its last two surprise inspections, including a visit two weeks before the incident. A spokesman for the chain also said the location was sprayed for pests just days before.
The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control shut down the popular salad bar after the incident, but did not find any evidence of mice infestation. In its own report, DHEC recommended the restaurant “examine the product more closely during hydration and placement on the salad bar for customer service.” more…
