14 DAY TRIAL // A 96-year-old man from Long Island celebrated his birthday with a big slice of German apple cake, but he had a huge surprise. The family found parts of a dead rat when they cut into the birthday cake.
They bought Joseph Vallenti his favorite cake for the anniversary party – an apple ring cake from King Kullen grocery store in Commack, New York.
After eating it, the man complained to his family about the taste and then started to feel sick, with stomach pains and diarrhea.
Neil Gold, who is dating Vallenti’s niece, looked closely at the remaining cake and spotted a gray rodent tail and what appeared to be grayish mold. The tail was five inches (12.7 cm) long.
“I saw … something sticking out. I flipped it over and saw the whole tail bleeding into the cake,” he said, according to Huffington Post.
Ed Yule, the family's attorney, asked the New York Department of Agriculture and Markets to investigate the incident, but he said no legal action has been taken.
A spokesperson for the store says that there were no known rodent issues so far, but the supermarket is conducting its own internal investigation.
“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,” said Lloyd Singer, representative for the bakery.
In a written statement issued this weekend, King Kullen bakery said all the products had been recalled from its stores.
“Product has been removed from the bakery and the premises has 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,” reads the statement.
On its website, the supermarket boasts the German apple ring cake is “a customer favorite.”