96-Year-Old Man Finds Rat In Birthday Cake, Family Claims

It wasn’t exactly the happy birthday that everyone had in mind.

A Long Island, N.Y., man celebrating his 96th birthday found a rat tail baked into his birthday cake, according to his family.

Joe Valente’s special request for his birthday celebration was his favorite store-bought German apple ring cake.

Joe didn’t smell a rat, as it were, but when he took a bite, he told family members that it didn’t taste right. After cutting into it again, his nephew Neil noticed that the cake contained some black mold. But things got worse for the birthday boy and his assembled family, when Neil claimed that he “found a five-inch-long rat’s tail still attached to the rodent’s hindquarters.”

Added Neil about his disgusting findings: “I saw.?.?. something sticking out. I flipped it over and saw the whole tail bleeding into the cake.”

The family’s lawyer expressed the opinion that the cake was tampered with, and added that he is turning over the cake to state officials for testing. A lawsuit may or may not be forthcoming.

In a statement, the King Kullen supermarket chain said that “We took immediate steps as a precautionary measure. Product has been removed from the bakery and the premises have undergone a thorough inspection. There are no known safety or rodent issues in this bakery department and it is in good standing with all Department of Agriculture inspections.” The company also noted that it will follow-up with an internal investigation and provide full cooperation to state investigators.

A spokesman for the specific King Kullen store where the family purchased the birthday cake said that “King Kullen has had in-store bakeries for over 30 years and there has never been a case of a rodent in one of our store-baked cakes.”

The 96-year-old reportedly suffered stomach pain and diarrhea after a piece of his birthday cake.

[image credit: Earth’sbuddy]