An Alberta woman who once drank Red Bull religiously claims she has sworn off the product after making a disturbing discovery.
About four months ago, Janell Carlson was drinking a large can of the energy drink that she bought in Fort Saskatchewan, when she says she felt something strange in her mouth.
“I was sick at the time so I thought it was phlegm. I had swallowed a chunk, dismissed it and there was a chunk in between my gum and my bottom tooth,” she says. “(I) pulled it out and it looked like a round piece of plastic, so I kind of looked at my can and there was something big and large at the bottom of it.”
Carlson, who works at a hospital, says at that point she threw the can across her work parking lot, but her co-worker urged her to see what was inside the can.
“So I looked into it and we figured it was a critter of some kind.”
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After running up to their unit and grabbing some flashlights, Carlson and her co-workers realized the critter was actually a dead mouse. Carlson also claims there were mouse droppings inside the can.
In addition to reportedly make her vomit repeatedly that night, Carlson says the experience has prevented her from drinking Red Bull, as well as any other canned drinks.
“You expect it to be safe and to find a mouse in a can, I wouldn’t even have fathomed anything like that would’ve happened,” she says.
Carlson has kept the can wrapped and sealed in her freezer since October as she’s been waiting to hear back from Red Bull. After not hearing back from the company, she approached Global News.
When we contacted Red Bull on her behalf, we received this response from Lubor Keliar on behalf of Red Bull Canada:
“The technical standards for our product manufacturing is state of the art and the quality regulations go far beyond what is required by law. It is impossible for anything that size to enter the can during the production process as – all other particle prevention measures aside – the aperture of the filler hose is only 0.5mm. Nevertheless, we take any complaint seriously and are undertaking a thorough examination. We have made an attempt to reach the lawyer by phone and left a message but regrettably there was no reply.”
While some may wonder if she put the mouse in herself, Carlson vehemently denies that: “There’s no way that big fat mouse could fit through that little tiny hole,” she says. “People say mice can fit through things the size of a dime – there was feces in the can when I was drinking it. And an animal that was forced into the can would not be pooping in the can. So, they can think what they want.”
With files from Julie Matthews, Global News
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