Whole Foods responds to viral video of mouse eating meat in New York store
(WPIX) — Whole Foods has responded over a day after a video went viral on social media of a mouse enjoying a few bites of some raw meat in one of the chain’s Manhattan grocery stores.
The cringe-inducing clip, posted to TikTok by user Brittany Ellis, was recorded at the market’s Columbus Circle location on May 23, she said.
“We take this situation very seriously,” a spokesperson for Whole Foods told NewsNation affiliate WPIX. “We immediately removed and disposed of all products in the case, performed a deep cleaning, and brought in a third-party service for a thorough inspection. The store diligently followed our detailed protocol in response and continues to work closely with our food safety team,” the statement continued.
The video had over 2.4 million views when WPIX originally reported the story Monday. That number has grown by over a million to 3.8 million views just a day later.
Ellis later shared a YouTube video providing more details on the incident.
Ellis said she heard a woman and man on line at the meat display talking about the rodent and went over to see for herself.
“That was disgusting,” Ellis said.
She then took a video of it and tried to get an employee’s attention. When Ellis got the butcher’s attention, he was shocked and brought the manager, who said he would take care of the situation.
“This was truly a traumatic viewing of a rodent eating away and possibly passing on more diseases during a global pandemic,” Ellis said.