Authorities are investigating how a live rat was allegedly able to find its way into a loaf of bread at a Townsville supermarket (that’s in Northern Queensland, Australia) before being sold to an unsuspecting customer.
The gruesome find was made by a shopper who bought a loaf of Helga’s Bread from Coles at 
Centro in Aitkenvale on Sunday.
The woman, who asked to remain anonymous, said she was unloading her shopping into a car with a friend when she noticed the slices had holes in them.
A mouse fell onto a patron’s lap at Logan’s Roadhouse in Normal, Illinois after an apparent fall from the ceiling.
The incident happened April 29 while the person was eating at Logan’s, 313 S. Veterans Parkway, according to a complaint filed Monday with the McLean County Health Department. Logan’s had already called pest control prior to 
the department receiving and following up on the complaint, said agency spokeswoman Erin Tolle Link.
"They are being very cooperative in taking the steps necessary to correct the issue," she said Friday.
Rodent droppings, cockroaches and a build-up of rubbish has led four central Sydney (that’s in Australia) restaurants to be prosecuted, fined, and named and shamed on a government register designed to prompt businesses to clean up their act.
The New South Wales Food Authority publishes lists of food outlets that have breached or are alleged to have breached state food safety laws.
NSW Primary Industries Minister Steve Whan said in a statement some of the offences included "unpalatable acts" such as food, waste and grease build-up, and the failure to eradicate and prevent pests.
In some cases, live cockroaches, rodent droppings, smears and hairs were observed throughout the premises.
A west London restaurant owner was criticized for an "appalling catalogue of offences" after health inspectors saw a mouse jumping from a bowl of sweet and sour sauce in the kitchen.
Press Association reports that inspectors visiting the Kam Tong, Hung Tao and Kiasu restaurants in Queensway, Bayswater, found mouse droppings all over the kitchens and cockroach eggs in the dim sum and baskets of prawn crackers.
One rodent was photographed scampering along a kitchen drainpipe in the Kam Tong restaurant after jumping from a bowl of sweet and sour sauce which was about to be served to customers.
Owner Ronald Lim, of Barnet, north London, admitted 17 counts of breaching food hygiene regulations at Southwark Crown Court.
Judge Geoffrey Rivlin QC ordered him to pay fines totaling £30,000, plus £18,131 costs, and handed him an eight-month jail term suspended for two years.
eatmedaily.com reports that UCLA French professor Laure Murat will present, “Queering Ratatouille: A Rat Reclaiming French Cuisine” this afternoon. Having just returned from the NeMLA (which Doug lovingly calls NAMBLA) annual meeting in Boston, my first thought was ratatouille is the perfect dish to represent queering. Then I realized this is a talk about a gay rat in a cartoon.
Ratatouille is a relatively safe dish from a food safety perspective. It’s a combination of vegetables like eggplant, zucchini, green bell peppers, tomatoes, garlic, onions and the like, simmered or roasted together until the flavors meld into a gorgeous Mediterranean flavor. Any unsavory microorganisms should be amply cooked out by the time it is ready to serve.