Pepsi is being sued by a Madison County, Illinois man who claims he found a mouse in his Mountain Dew. Ho-hum, right? But wait, Pepsi came up with the greatest defence ever: you’ll never know you’re drinking mouse!
A little back story. In 2009, Ronald Ball says he bought a can of Mountain Dew from a vending machine at work. The soda made him violently ill, and he began throwing up he claims. He poured the soda in a styrofoam cup, and, well, there was a mouse. Or so he says.
And then, purported subterfuge!
Ball also is claiming that when he called a telephone number on the can of soda to complain about the incident, they sent an adjuster to retrieve the mouse, but the company would not return the mouse until it had decomposed, ruling out additional testing by the plaintiff.
So that happened. Or didn’t. Who really knows? But now the case has made its way to court. And while this might be just another run-of-the-mill vermin in the food story otherwise, a tidbit from trial makes the case worth catching up on.
Pepsi has moved to dismiss the case, according to the Madison St. Clair Record. Why, you ask? It cited expert testimony that the mouse would have dissolved in the soda before Ball ever had the chance to drink it.
Wait, so, is Pepsi’s defence basically that you’d never know if there was a mouse in your soda? Kind of.
Pepsi’s expert says the mouse would have become a “jelly like” substance long before Ball ever popped the top.
That’s not mouse. It’s just mouse jelly. Which also sounds delicious! Let’s all drink a soda. [Madison St Clair Record via Brendan Koerner]
Image: Shutterstock / Przemys?aw
The Flash
Tuesday, January 3, 2012 at 3:04 PMWhere do I get the above T-Shirt from? The one with the mouse and delicious on it?
Timmahh
Tuesday, January 3, 2012 at 3:22 PMSo let me get this straight! The plaintiff was stupid enough to actually give the evidence to Pepsi! and just to make it even more ridiculous, having now acquired said evidence, Pepsi admitted that it was there, by claiming the plaintiff wouldn’t have known it was there? So which one is stupider, the plaintiff, or Pepsi?
Palms
Tuesday, January 3, 2012 at 3:47 PMNo, what they are saying is that there couldn’t possibly have been a whole mouse in the drink (as was alleged by Ball) as it would have dissolved before he had the chance to drink it. Hence the ‘evidence’ of a whole mouse in the drink must be false.
Jaezass
Tuesday, January 3, 2012 at 4:32 PMThat may be the case, but I read it the same way as Timmahh too!
Osiris Fox
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 3:50 PMNo, they’re not admitting that it was there.
There must be a mouse remains present as part of the evidence, probably the bones of which are probably still firmish. Thus, they are saying that if there was a mouse in the Pepsi can, it would have been virtually dissolved and thus not actually retrievable in the form that the evidence produced by the plaintiff suggests.
Osiris Fox
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 3:51 PMDoh!!
Josh
Tuesday, January 3, 2012 at 3:48 PMThe mouse… I think ending up as jelly is a pretty bad way to end up. Moral of the story, dont climb into a can of Mountain Dew
Michael
Tuesday, January 3, 2012 at 3:32 PMPepsi’s point is that the mouse could not have been in the can, as it would have been turned into a sort of jelly… Unlike the mouse this guy found. Therefore, it cannot be one of theirs!
Brett
Tuesday, January 3, 2012 at 4:19 PMso if it does that to a mouse what is it doing to our internal organs!!!! Thats why i dont drink soft drinks!
iMikeyMike
Tuesday, January 3, 2012 at 4:42 PMYeah: if i were to seal your internal organs in a container of soft drink, they would turn to jelly. Otherwise – no. Unless you don’t poo or wee.
BTW: anyone ever told you your stomach is full of hydrochloric acid? QUICK – GET IT OUT! :)
DAN!
Tuesday, January 3, 2012 at 4:20 PMThat mouse up top is all man.
cayal
Tuesday, January 3, 2012 at 4:23 PMThey should use the Schrodingers Cat theory.
Crispy
Tuesday, January 3, 2012 at 5:21 PMSo there IS and ISN’T a mouse in every can until you open it and check??
cayal
Tuesday, January 3, 2012 at 9:21 PMYep.
Brilliance.
Andrew
Wednesday, January 4, 2012 at 5:25 PMAbsolutely classic, love this! Schrodingers Soft Drink Jelly Mouse theory!
HP
Tuesday, January 3, 2012 at 4:58 PMtime to call on mythbuster… assuming pepsi lawyer haven’t threaten them yet
Marty
Tuesday, January 3, 2012 at 5:46 PMi think that it is unlikely the mouse would of ended up as jelly. try sitting meat in a coke bath for two weeks and see what happens (see mythbusters epsiode 5). point is, there is not enough acid in the softdrink for a mouse to become “jellified”. For meat to become jellified you need caustic soda or some other high strength acid (IE: hydrochloric acid).
so when you think about it, the previous case cited was stupid, which makes pepsi co. even dumber than thought possible.
Osiris Fox
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 3:56 PMPiece of cow meat != Delicate mouse carcass
Antonia
Tuesday, January 3, 2012 at 6:16 PMOf course the expert gives the “evidence” that Co wants the expert to.
Expert: A mouse would take 8 months to jellify
Co: We believe that its more like 3 days
Expert: I’ve rechecked my figures and you’re right it IS 3 days.
Co: Good now tell the course that.
Expert: Ok, that’ll be $10K thanks.
DarthDVD
Tuesday, January 3, 2012 at 8:21 PMWait wait wait…. the mouse dissolves before anyone can drink it?
whats in the USA Pepsi? Battery acid?
chugs
Tuesday, January 3, 2012 at 9:39 PMwell it is mountain dew. that shit tastes pretty dank
carmykal
Wednesday, January 4, 2012 at 12:55 AMMice carry disease dont they?
Sugar, Fluid… Mountain Dew.. Ripe environments for the 200 billion types of bacteria and disease to multiply!
another Marty
Wednesday, January 4, 2012 at 2:58 PMHaving worked in both beer and soft drink manufacturing plants I would love to know how the mouse got in the can/bottle…. it is a closed system where the fillers are cleaned with caustic or acid before the beverage is added, and no recognisable part of mouse would fit through the fill lines… I’ll be interested to hear the outcome of this one!