A shocking sight was faced by a consumer opening a package of frozen spinach, a well-known brand that he got from a supermarket in his area.
More specifically, among the clumps of frozen vegetable leaves, half a frozen mouse stood out clearly! As can be seen from the photos he sent to cibum, Dimitris Deligiannis took a piece of paper and removed the mouse from the spinach to make sure that his eyes were not “fooling” him!
See the photo:
Mice in the food industry
It is not the first time that food news deals with the presence of rodents in restaurants, or inside packaged food. Rodents in food are a deadly combination. This is the worst case of food contamination by a foreign body as rodents are dangerous carriers of foodborne pathogens. Mice and rats can be found in food production facilities and are among the most difficult problems food companies have to deal with. This is because they may be bordered by environments such as fields or forests, and with doors open and small holes unsealed, vermin can enter the facility with ease.
Rats and mice have always consumed and contaminated food, transmitted disease and caused damage to buildings and equipment. Rodent infestations were usually dealt with when they reached problematic levels. Today, however, health, hygiene and safety standards make effective and verifiable year-round rodent control increasingly important.
Especially in industrialization of agricultural production there is a possibility of rodents entering the field or the facility during the initial processing phase which is usually done in sheltered areas but not substantially closed. It is then possible for the rodent’s body to pass through the following stages and even be frozen or canned. The equipment that usually controls such foreign bodies is the X-RAY that x-rays the bag with the final product before it enters the final box in which it will be sold on the market! Businesses now have perfect equipment.
Mice and rats are carriers of pathogenic micro-organisms that can from their excrement, urine, mucus, body etc. be passed to humans through contact with a contaminated surface or by eating rodent-infested food. Other bacterial diseases caused by rodent bites such as muscular typhus. Diseases carried by rodents are:
- Salmonellosis
- Leptospirosis
- Trichinosis
- Plague
In the food and beverage industries, not implementing a comprehensive pest control program can have serious financial impact from loss of inventory and products, product recall, equipment destruction. But the most important thing is that it endangers the name and reputation of the company itself, it can lead to legal adventures and even its closure.
Source: food
Source: www.diaforetiko.gr
