diff --git a/examples/hotrod/cmd/root.go b/examples/hotrod/cmd/root.go
index 7db0b0bda83..1a6a0d22211 100644
--- a/examples/hotrod/cmd/root.go
+++ b/examples/hotrod/cmd/root.go
@@ -56,8 +56,6 @@ func init() {
 
 // onInitialize is called before the command is executed.
 func onInitialize() {
-	jaegerclientenv2otel.MapJaegerToOtelEnvVars(logger)
-
 	zapOptions := []zap.Option{
 		zap.AddStacktrace(zapcore.FatalLevel),
 		zap.AddCallerSkip(1),
@@ -68,6 +66,9 @@ func onInitialize() {
 		)
 	}
 	logger, _ = zap.NewDevelopment(zapOptions...)
+
+	jaegerclientenv2otel.MapJaegerToOtelEnvVars(logger)
+
 	metricsFactory = prometheus.New().Namespace(metrics.NSOptions{Name: "hotrod", Tags: nil})
 
 	if config.MySQLGetDelay != fixDBConnDelay {
diff --git a/scripts/spm-integration-test.sh b/scripts/spm-integration-test.sh
index a0270586130..61e99911206 100755
--- a/scripts/spm-integration-test.sh
+++ b/scripts/spm-integration-test.sh
@@ -61,17 +61,24 @@ validate_service_metrics() {
     # Store the values in an array
     mapfile -t metric_points < <(echo "$response" | jq -r '.metrics[0].metricPoints[].gaugeValue.doubleValue')
     echo "Metric datapoints found for service '$service': " "${metric_points[@]}"
-    # Check that all values are non-zero
+    # Check that atleast some values are non-zero after the threshold
     local non_zero_count=0
+    local expected_non_zero_count=3
+    local zero_count=0
+    local expected_max_zero_count=3
     for value in "${metric_points[@]}"; do
       if [[ $(echo "$value > 0.0" | bc) == "1" ]]; then
         non_zero_count=$((non_zero_count + 1))
       else
-        echo "❌ ERROR: Zero values not expected"
+        zero_count=$((zero_count + 1))
+      fi
+
+      if [[ $zero_count -gt $expected_max_zero_count ]]; then
+        echo "❌ ERROR: Zero values crossing threshold limit not expected (Threshold limit - '$expected_max_zero_count')"
         return 1
       fi
     done
-    if [ $non_zero_count -lt 3 ]; then
+    if [ $non_zero_count -lt $expected_non_zero_count ]; then
       echo "⏳ Expecting at least 3 non-zero data points"
       return 1
     fi