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4 Fast Facts

  • A man bought a bottle of Dr. Pepper for his grandson.
  • After the child drank half of the bottle, they say they found a rat in the bottle.
  • A spokesperson from Dr. Pepper says they would like to see the bottle to run tests on it.
  • The man says he wants to run his own tests on it first and hire a lawyer.

KATY, TX – A family in Texas is appalled after they say they found a dead rat in a bottle of Dr. Pepper.

John Graves posted several pictures to Facebook of the dead rat found in a bottle of Dr. Pepper his grandson had been drinking from.

Graves wrote that when they informed Dr. Pepper of the incident, the company’s response was, “’Send us the bottle and we will let you know something in 6-8 weeks!’ Are you kidding me? What if my grandson drank poison or disease?’”

Graves told KPRC 2 that he took his grandson to the pediatrician for blood and urine samples and they contacted the state of Texas and the CDC.

A spokesperson from Dr. Pepper told KPRC 2 that they want the bottle so they can run tests on it.

But Graves said he wants to have his own testing done before handing the bottle over to Dr. Pepper.

“I want to get the rat tested to see where it came from, how it got there, if there is any medical concerns we should be concerned about,” Graves told KPRC 2.

Dr. Pepper-Snapple released the following statement to KPRC 2:

“Nothing is more important to us than the safety and well-being of our consumers. We take all consumer complaints very seriously, are very concerned about the call we received today from Mr. Graves and are investigating it as best as we can.

“What we know from our experience is that given the controls and safeguards we have in our production facilities it is virtually impossible for any foreign object to enter any container during the bottling process. All of our containers enter our facility on pallets in our warehouse and remain covered until the moment they are placed on our high-speed filling lines. Once on the filling lines, they are inverted and rinsed out before they are filled and capped.

“We have offered to dispatch a courier to pick up the product to take it out for testing by a third party forensics laboratory, but the consumer has declined this request. This lab would be able to analyze any rodent that got into the product, determine how it entered the container and even inspect the contents of its stomach. This process can take 6-8 weeks to yield conclusive findings. Until we have the opportunity to review the contents, we don’t have a way to do a full investigation.”