On 8 September, a woman posted a video on her Facebook page showing something that would give anyone the heebie-jeebies: a rat baked into her store-bought bread.
Since then, the video has garnered more than 3 000 reactions and nearly one million views – for what Pepsico South Africa has described as an ‘isolated occurrence’, Cape {town} Etc reports.
In her Facebook post, Nombulelo Mkumla explained that she bought the bread from Spar in Durban on 27 August.
‘The same day, I made toast after work and ate the bread. The following day, after work, I did the same thing.’
‘Then, on the morning of August 31st, I took the bread out of the fridge to make toast and noticed something disgusting and scary.’
‘I took a picture and sent it to my friends, and one of them said, ‘Yi mpuku leyo tshomi‘ (‘That’s a rat friend’). I was in denial and suggested it might be something else, but the rat scenario made sense – it’s possible the rat got into the bread at the factory, and no one noticed,’ she added.
She said she then took the bread to Spar, where she was advised to file a complaint with their supplier (Pioneer Foods). She was provided with contact details, to which she sent pictures and a video of the bread.
Watch:
She got a reply on Saturday, 31 August, from someone acknowledging receipt of her emails.
On Monday, 2 September, she said she filled out a form stating that the bread had mould.
‘Why would I make a fuss over mould? I responded and gave my description of the complaint.’
She didn’t get a response until Friday, 7 September.
‘A guy from Sasko called me. “Ma’am, I am… from Sasko. I am calling regarding your recent experience with our product. I sincerely apologise for what happened to you.
“It shouldn’t have happened, but you must understand that it gets hot where we bake our products, so things like this are bound to happen. Yes, I admit that your bread had a mouse/rat. We are putting measures in place to prevent this from happening again. Don’t worry; it won’t affect you health-wise.”
This apology made me angrier. Instead of saying sorry, they told me to understand that it gets hot where they bake, and that’s why there was a rat in my bread!’
PepsiCo South Africa told IOL News that the discovery is an ‘isolated occurrence’, stating that the loaf of SASKO Low GI Seeded Whole Wheat brown bread did not meet the company’s standards.
PepsiCo South Africa’s Cornel Vermeulen reportedly stated that an investigation was launched and that while samples and records were taken from the batch, no discrepancies were found.
ALSO SEE: Five-grain bread recipe
Written by Ilze-Mari van Zyl for Cape Etc.
Feature image: Screenshot of video by Nombulelo Mkumla/Facebook
