A number of photographs published on Facebook by a Texas resident man John Graves on 9th May 2016 and claimed that he had found a dead rat in the bottle of Dr. Pepper partially consumed by his grandson. Graves also provided some additional details regarding his alleged claim to news outlet KPRC of Houston. He added that his 3 years old grandson opened and consumed at least half of the soda bottle, and then we discovered a rat inside the bottle. Point to be noted that Graves didn’t mention about the taste of soft drink was different, but he indicated that the size of rat was large than the hole of the bottle.
John Graves also said that a spokesperson of Dr. Pepper requested to submit rat & bottle to the company for testing purpose and to know the real facts. But, Graves was not ready to sample because he needs an independent analysis of the sample. The food safety expert Jay Neal said that it was possible that a lab animal can easily enter in a sealed soda bottle, but not always. He added that rats and mice have the capability to enter into small holes, but he said that it can be happened in a rare situation. Dr. Pepper issued a statement that indicated claim is impossible because our testing normally takes at least 6 to 8 weeks before dispatch, but we have offered for independent laboratory testing regarding this claim.