A mother who found her young son chewing on a rat’s leg was told the unpleasant find probably came from her own home, not the store-bought garlic bread she initially suspected.
Shannon Bellman had given her 10-month-old son garlic bread after purchasing it at a Pak’nSave supermarket in Te Awamutu, on New Zealand’s North Island, on March 22.
“I saw this coming out of his mouth and I grabbed it, I couldn’t believe it,” Ms. Bellman told the New Zealand Herald at the time, adding that her son suffered an upset stomach after the incident.
The supermarket chain immediately removed that brand of garlic bread from all its stores nationwide and an investigation was launched into the origin of the rat’s paw.
A mother who discovered her young son chewing on a rat’s leg (pictured) was told the unpleasant find probably came from her own home, not the store-bought garlic bread she initially suspected.
Shannon Bellman had given her 10-month-old son the snack she bought at a Pak’nSave supermarket in Te Awamutu on New Zealand’s North Island on March 22.
Now Food Safety New Zealand has determined the rodent’s leg “probably” came from Ms Bellman’s home, with the government body revealing the rat’s body part was “raw” and the garlic bread ” twice cooked”.
This meant that the foot was very unlikely to ever find its way into garlic bread at any point in the commercial supply chain.
“We have thoroughly investigated the complaint and can now rule out the manufacturer, distributor, distribution center and retailer as possible sources of the foot,” said Vincent Arbuckle, deputy director general of the NZFS.
Despite this conclusion, he said the complaint had been made in good faith.
NZFS said the manufacturer had strict safety procedures in place.
Bellman said he thought Pak’nSave did not take the incident seriously when it occurred until images of the rat paw were posted on Facebook.
He later received an apologetic call from the company.
The supermarket chain immediately removed that brand of garlic bread (pictured) from all of its stores nationwide and began an investigation into the origin of the rat’s paw.
The horrific incident comes as New Zealand plans to exterminate all rats on its islands by 2050.
The ambitious plan, which also includes getting rid of other nuisance animals such as possums and stoats, was unveiled by then-Prime Minister John Key in 2016.
The country hopes a rat-free countryside will boost native birds, including the iconic kiwi.
Many bird species are endangered because rats and other pests feed on their eggs and compete with them for food.
“This is the most ambitious conservation project ever attempted anywhere in the world, but we believe that if we all work together as a country we can achieve it,” Key said at the time.