A woman was alarmed to see something moving around inside the bag of granola she had just purchased from a local store.
Lindsay Wright, from Southgate in London, shared footage to TikTok under the handle @jofaeri of something moving around inside the sealed bag of cereal. “We bought the granola early Sunday morning just as a quick shop to get some breakfast,” Wright told Newsweek.
Wright said she noticed “nothing out of the ordinary” about the cereal as she was carrying it home. She didn’t feel any extra weight in the bag and there was no movement as she carried it.
However, that changed as soon as she got home. “As I put the bag down I noticed rustling, noises, and the granola moving like it was being eaten,” Wright said.
“I didn’t open it—it was completely sealed, and we watched it for five or so before seeing shadows of tiny claws and what looked like fur.”
Wright shared a glimpse of that footage to her TikTok, with the video quickly going viral. At the time of writing, it’s been watched 2.3 million times.
The bag remained sealed throughout, with Wright wary of whatever was inside escaping and causing a potential rodent infestation. That means she can’t say for definite what kind of animal was in amongst her granola but she and her family have a pretty good idea.
“We assumed it was some kind of baby rodent or mouse,” she said. “We took it to the store immediately to tell them. In the car it was still moving.”
Wright said she purchased the granola from a Sainsbury’s Local, a mini mart-style offshoot of the supermarket chain Sainsbury’s. In the wake of what happened, she also called Sainsbury’s directly to report what had happened.
A Sainsbury’s spokesperson told Newsweek: “Nothing is more important to us than the quality and safety of our products and we’re sorry that our usual high standards were not met on this occasion. We’re urgently investigating this with our supplier and have requested permission to reach out to the customer so we can look into this case further.”
The presence of mice and rodents in foodstuffs should be a source of considerable concern. Rodents can spread a variety of illnesses through food contamination.
One of the most common is Salmonellosis, caused by the Salmonella bacteria, which can lead to food poisoning with the symptoms most common being fever, diarrhea and abdominal cramps.
Other potential dangers include Listeria, Hantavirus, Leptospirosis, Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis Virus (LCMV) and Rate-Bite Fever, with symptoms ranging from the usual associated with food poisoning, to more serious, potentially life-threatening issues.
Wright is fully aware of just how serious the situation could have been. “We felt pretty shocked and disturbed,” she said. “If we ate it it potentially could have been lethal.”
Yet, in some ways, Wright and her family may have had a lucky escape. Had whatever was inside the bag not still been crawling around, they might not have noticed what had happened straight away. By the time they did, it may have already been too late.
