Tuesday, 2nd September 2008 - 14:13CET
Update 2: Nurse finds part of mouse's head in her plate - caterer destroys supplies, may sue supplier
(Adds caterer's comments)
The Health Department said this afternoon that prompt action was taken after a nurse yesterday reported finding part of the head of a mouse while eating vegetables at the hospital canteen.
Health inspectors were on the scene quickly to verify the report . Since the vegetables had been imported from Belgium after being processed in the Netherlands, the Public Health Inspectorate informed the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed to investigate this batch on the European market.
Contact was also made with the supplier, the stores were inspected and the remaining packets of that consignment were sealed.
The inspectorate will be taking action against the person responsible, in terms of the law, the Health Department said.
The canteen caterer in a statement said that the vegetables served in the meals were frozen packed in the Netherlands and imported from Belgium.
All stock coming from the supplier concerned had been destroyed, all ties had been cut, and legal action was being considered.
The caterer explained that health inspectors happened to be making an inspection of the canteen on the same day of the incident. They had found the canteen and kitchen to be up to all the catering standards required by EU legislation.
The caterer said he was completely confident that the incident did not arise in-house.
The Health Department in a second statement said the caterer at the Mater Dei Hospital canteen who provided meals for the workers was not the caterer who provided the patient meals.
Comments
Who found a dead mouse in his stew.
Said the waiter, “Don't shout
Or wave it about,
Or the rest will be wanting one too!”
Entertaining as these comments have been, it might be time to move on from this rat head in salad complex.
http://www.mg.co.za/article/2008-01-29-hospital-serves-up-mouse-head-on-plate
If the mouse was cooked on a slow flame at gas mark 4 for approximately 15.6 minutes I assure there is no danger of an epidemic of bubonic plague breaking out at Mater Dei. and even if it did, I can assure you that the staff is well equipped to deal with the situation.
Furthermore, bubonic plague is nor caused by the mouse/rat but by the fleas that infest the said rodent. Therefore I would surmise that the fleas would have died during the cooking.
I think that Black Sabbath had a song called Rat Salad....I believe it was an instrumental from their LP 'Paranoid'....Ozzy would have liked to taste that salad, come to think of it....though he specialises in doves' heads!!! :P
Seems you didn't get it and only makes me think that you are one of those blind folded and whatever smells blue is perfect. Good for you jekk ghandek biex tifrah. Just to let you know that I only pass comments bis-sens u instead of calling others VOJT'A fej ma jaqbillekx ghall widnejk! ... Minix xi wiehed li nhobb inxejjer bnadar izda iktar inhobb nibghat lill xi hadd jixxejjer meta nara certu ignorance with a low level of intelligence and a one sided tracked mind. Tahseb li nifrah meta nara dal-kummiedji bla waqfien go pajjizi. Tkunx Vojt !
The unsolicited presence of a cooked mouse head on a diner's plate is most objectionable.This is primarily a matter of culinary good taste and table manners rather than a fanciful danger of an endemic which would endanger the health of all our medical personnel. Let us maintain a sense of proportion and not stir up an unnecessary and ridiculous nation-wide state of alarm.
There are much more serious national issues and incidents which should be making the headlines
Living as I do in a farmhouse has made me accept that these critters will whether I like it or not have to share my space and while I never found a mouse in my food I am pretty sure that they have shared my food on my platge on a number of occasions.
Let us not forget that the biggest compliment a cat can pay you is to deposit in front of you a mouse whose head was firmly esconced in its mouth.
Sour grapes!!!!!!
Agreed. Public health precautions would be justified even on mere suspicion but not the premature apportioning of blame and punishments suggested profusely in the comments.
The most obvious "prima facie" explanation for this unfortunate incident is that the mouse head could have been deliberately planted in the midwife's plate. This would explain the failure to detect it at any previous stage of the food handling chain and why the public health inspections before and after the incident did not detect any errors of hygiene so far.
Of course there are other possibilities that cannot be ruled out at this early stage of the investigation but hasty premature judgements would tarnish reputations without any justification whatsover.
YES it is a state-of-the-art hospital - being bitter about the results of the last election don't make it anything else. Your vision is obviously blurred with shades of RED.
Silly me - Why am I surprised.
to all the haccap know-it-alls... its got nothing to do with reporting about the condition of the product inside every packet/jar you open, potato you peel or drink you pour. it's all about traceability, standards and control chains.
The responsibilty rests on the person who prepared/served the food, haccap accredited or not, whose performance was seriously lacking especially if he/she attended the local xallata the night before.
to the caterer: Find out who was on duty that day and fire his/her ass. Make it known to all your friends in a similar trade NOT to employ that person, and change your supplier.
Take a look:
http://www.weirdasianews.com/2008/09/03/rat-meat-rises-in-popularity-as-inflation-hits-locals/
good to know..like yeah..who cares for the workers?? oh don't worry dear workers..if you get poisoned or something..you will become patients..
How come the text is full of "the caterer said" ? What about the nurse??
Many argued that it happened in the a STATE OF THE ART hospital. But this story should not be directed to the health carers who are doing their best for us.
Attention should be given not to harm indirectly the living of those working in the catering service including all places where food is served.
Unfortunately nobody questioned the most important question
WHAT IS THE BRAND OF VEG. USED AT THE HOSPITAL??!!
That should be our concern!! Especially if the brand of veg. is available in the supermarkets or used by restaurants.
Mater Dei was always a rip off..u know it was a bad idea...and yet u brainwashed us to beleive only the ADVANTAGES...you always have an advantage...what is the Advantage for a mouse in a plate?? I know one...it wasn't in yours!!
I hope that the foreign vegetable supplier will not sue the local importers and whoever is involved.
Keep on hoping for lovely dreams.
Please also consider the damages on the environment: to ship products from far away that can be locally (?) available.
Now I`ve heard it all. A Labourite Mouse. Was the colour of his blood a giveaway?
The responsability is his and his alone, when you buy vegetablesor fruits you have to wash them as no green grocer will accept any responsability if you find a worm or an insect in them. Same thing happens here, if you serve people veggies you have to make sure they are washed and checked.
nice thought about the free meal but i doubt if the nurse will ever eat out again!
and all those who are worried that it could have been speedy gonzales's head. CNN has just reported that speedy has been arrested trying to enter the USA illegally from Mexico!
Kemm int VOJT/A!!!
One thing is evident from this episode and that is the fact the the persons delegated at the various levels with responsibility for checks and monitoring in the Matre Dei hospital HACCP system failed to carry out their responsibility for food safety diligently.
Just look at this article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/40818.stm
I remember the magazine Fortean Times showing a picture of the mouse smothered in ketchup...!
P.S. At last I have found one use for the compulsory study of Arabic during my school days!!!!!
OUCH!
Did I hit a sore spot?
Want to share a very mousey banana with me?
presumably there's also a spicy rodent sauce for customers who aren't that fond of crunchy mouse heads...
now that's better than extra cheese topping
- did NO ONE see the mouse served to the lady? are the kitchen staff blindfolded
You're right: everybody is wrong. Obviously, except you.
Since I presume that particular bag was opened and emptied to be cooked then it is not so clear cut and that is why in HACCAP there are CPP'S.These are critical points whereby a point is identified as being critical an example of this would be opening the bag for quality and any contamination that may be present be identified before being emptied into another container pot bowl etc.A log would be in place and signed by whoever opened bag stating that product is ";clean".
I sincerely hope that caterer is following these procedures because if not even though the contaminated bag originated from another country ,the caterer is in duty bound to see that product doesnt go further than it should.
Another point is that caterer should be certain that supplier is HACCAP compliant as well as otherwise the risks are higher.
This is a 'I'm not to blame' syndrome.
It can be seen and argued till kingdom come, the fault lies with the kitchen staff who did not bother the check the salad and with that the canteen caterer as well.
Therefore it is all irrelevant to the public and all concerned, when the caterer would sue the supplier. That would be his personal right once that he would lose the contract, which should be the solution as he failed to keep the standards.
As I live in this great Banana Republic I can easily forsee that he would be given a slap on the wrist and everything would carry on as before with the citizen Joe being taken for a ride.
I wonder what is the view of the Prime Minister as cracks are appearing in this most expensive and hyped up hospital in the world.
Things are not what they seem to be, dear Prime Minister.
Very bad bananas
In Asia & S/America mouse is a delicacy and you see here they give it for free :) Next in menu should be Cockroaches, flies. Ticks and flees :)
considering the long shifts this is unacceptable
there have also been many cases of gastroenteritis!!
its about time that the standard improves
blaming this incident on imported food is just a nice excuse
The caterer should be named and suspened. Kitchen should be closed at least for 48 hrs and everything should be sterilized and an enquiry should be done.
We take these things too lightly. that is why in malta nobody cares about keeping in line.
Also we should know what other outlets the caterer operates and they should be checked.
I bet nothing will happen to him as he will have a close political ally who will protect him.
What if this was one hell of a sick joke by one of the employees to create a sensation on the news?
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3190/is_7_42/ai_n24321254/pg_1?tag=artBody;col1
"Rat head in steamed veggies not a delicacy, hospital patient claims"
Nation's Restaurant News, Feb 18, 2008
HELSINKI, FINLAND -- Anyone who claims U.S. hospitals don't provide decent food consider this: A hospital here is in hot water after reportedly serving a patient a plate of steamed vegetables with a mouse head in it.
According to the website www.allheadlinenews.com, hospital authorities said the mouse head "probably came from a bag of Belgian vegetables." Sakari Kela, chief administrator at Northern Karelia Central Hospital, said that while the dead rat did not endanger the patient, it was "understandable that he lost his appetite."
One would have to analyse the DNA of the mouse fragment and compare it to that of local animals to see if it belongs to the same population. It can be a relatively expensive procedure but might be worth trying especially if there is to be a court case.
IT SHOW CLEARY FROM THE EMAILS THAT NOONE IS BUYING YOUR STORY THAT THE MOUSE IS DUTCH
INFACT ALL READERS BELIVE THAT THE MOUSE IS A CITIZEN OF MALTA
Renember last year when several Hospital Employee's got sever food posioning.
Well it seems the Minister of Health is not to keen to get this problem fixed for ALL MALTESE.
Laugh all you want but when your family starts going to the stores and getting sick or finding dead animals in your food, then you can joke about it.
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/249472
Who would have thought that the tiny mouse would end up in so many people's mouths!!!
Shhh! or everyone will want one!
Bring it on and make my day :))))
The operator is liable until due diligance is proven.
This is the not the first health warning given to this contractor.
The contract should be terminated AS FROM TODAY. If not, im sure that no one in his right mind will set foot again to eat from the canteen.
The staff deserves much better.
I'm not pointing the finger here but more needs to be established before the cause or ethnic origin of the demised rodent can be said with any degree of certainty.
Very strange .... the only chance is that the nurse was just eating vegetables! otherwise you can't really say ...
Anyone who implements the principles of HACCP (Hazzard Analysis Critical Control Points) knows full well that this system will never be fool proof. A break in the chain and one can throw away a lot of hard work down the bin's, literary. It is as good as long as everyone adheres to the rules.
In general terms and not referring to this particular case, such incidents are known to be caused by a disgrunted employee or an unhappy customer! Some clients and (thank god this has not reached our shores yet), make a pastime out of such a scenarios not to pay for a meal and then have the cheek to ask for compensation!, It is not unknown for foreign bodies such as pieces of glass, hair insects, are introduced after the meal was consumed.In such or similar situations,there is very little that the supplier can do defend themselves!
Why is that exactly? The patients food is much better and HEALTHIER than that offered by the canteen.. is there a reason why the staff get second-class food?
saying this i dont blam him if he sues the supplier infact that is what i would do if i were in his shoes ....
Mater Dei has two catering outlets, both of which are run by this same caterer. There are no other outlets within the immediate vicinity of the hospital. This contractor enjoys an absolute monopoly and has no incentive whatsoever to provide a decent service.
Prices are sky high (1.50euros for a Coke) and the food awful. Food shows evidence of having been heated and reheated (a practice notorious for promoting food colonization with bacteria), it is served parched dry.
There have been numerous reported outbreaks of enteritis in staff who consumed meals from canteen and yet no action has been taken. There have been cases of expired food labels covered up and the product re-displayed for sale.
What on earth is the hospital administration waiting for? This is the only food available to staff working on shifts, sometimes in excess of 30 hours.
I don't know you but, I smell a dead rat!
1 thing i want to clear. Food doesn't come ready packed in lunches, but is usually given to the employees in a buffet like manner. So it is usually reheated on premesis. One thing, it is not cooked on premesis, but it just gets transported from the kitchen to the hospital, reheated at mdh, and served.
It has come to no suprise, because there were many reports of food causing sickness to diverse employees, with no action ever being done. Such a case is just the cherry on the cake and still it seems the caterer will be left undaunted, as somehow the provider from belgium is to blame.
Well responsibility is also on the person cooking, and serving the food.
Manuel's Siberian Hamster (the RAT) ended up staring at the hotel inspector from the biscuit tin when he (the inspector, not the rat) had finished having lunch and asked for cheese and biscuits!
At least the rat was in one piece and alive......
D. Hill
But on a serious note; Although we've all convieniently jumped on the 'blame the Belgians' bandwagon, it wouldn't AT ALL surprise me if this extra ingredient was added in Malta. The state of kitchens in Maltese hotels, restaurants and hospitals is shocking to say the least. I did a study in two of our 'top' hotels and all i can say is that you will never catch me going anywhere near those places to eat food.
Peppino Surucillo
Hate to think if it was processed in a burger
Would opt for magnifying glasses rather than a fork and knife.
The caterer pointing fingers at supplier?! What does the caterer believe his role to be .... a postperson maybe?
chock full o' goodness
May be airlines, old people's homes, special schools, etc.
- twice had heartburn related to fried food served, requiring antacid medication to continue working, or i would hv gone home 'sick'. when i told restaurant staff, they just said, well, it's fried, we also take medication for heartburn if we eat that!!!! SO WHY DO THEY SERVE IT??!
- diarrhoea -two episodes following food intake at mater dei
- after eating fried fish and mashe potato i suffered severe heartburn, vomiting and had to leave work. spent five days unwell in bed with diarrhoea, taking up 5days of my own sick leave!
- a quiche lorraine served to me was FULL OF EGGSHELL BITS! i'm sure that was 'not imported from abroad'
- at canteen workers are entitled to tea or coffee.being a non drinker of both, when i ask for hot choc instead, i am told 'mux parti mill-kuntratt!" (when i eat out at restaurants, i'm am always served hot choc at no added cost!!!)
Since bringin my own 'lunch' from home, all these episodes of being unwell have settled!
too stupid...
Who are they trying to fool. EU producers have QC...
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/01/27/2147364.htm
I asked him whether there was an error (although when I asked the canteen assistants they told me that was their price). Up to date I still got no reply. And that's for customer care. Now this mouse thing is the cherry on the cake.
The food at the staff restaurant is totally junk ... the prices at the visitors' cafeteria is expensive (A half litre soft drink costs €1.90 when the next door's vending machine's soft drink is priced at €1.15)
Thank god that there are some restaurants in the vicinity of the hospital that you can order food thru telephone and delivers it to the hospital free of charge!
Just what we need !!!!!!
Did somebody mention "state of the art"????
Nice to have some humour, although this is a very serious matter.
HOWEVER I CAME ACROSS LIVE RATS MICE AND COCKRAOCHES IN SOME PLACES EVEN MIND YOU 5 STAR HOTELS
ALSO EVERY CHEF IS RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT HE SEVRES AND EVEN IF THE HEAD CAME FROM THE PCKET OF VEG THE CHEF REMAINS RESPONSIBLE AND THE VEG SUPLIER CANNOT BE RESPONSIBLE SINCE THE PACKET HAS BEEN OPENED
who are the authorities trying to fool ???? I wonder where the other parts of the mouse ended up.....maybe in the chip packet served in the foyer???
Aqbaduli
Oqtoluli
Armihuli il-ġurdien
Ma kienx kbir
Kien tal-imramma
ċkejken kien
Aqbaduli
Oqtoluli
Armihuli il-ġurdien
X'qatgħa tagħni
U kif Ħ=hassni
ħass ħażin!
LOL!
seriously now, I presume that if the mouse had somehow found its way into the stew in malta it would have been found whole, head, tail and everything else in between. on the other hand since only the head was found it must have come from abroad ergo, it was not a maltese mouse. be that as it may, the person responsible for preparing the meals should have been more careful what s/he was serving...I would have objected since I'm a vegetarian!
and the doctor tells you eat a lot of veggies. and you go buy from this canteen :-) and then oops a mouse head, the head was chopped somewhere so there prob was blood mixed with the other vegetables on the same batch, but i don't really believe that it came of abroad,
if it was me i would shut the canteen for 1 day and search the kitchen upside down.
because seriously now the place i don't expect to find this is in a hospitals canteen,
they should be extra cautious because they are feeding people receiving treatment there ....
Who found a small mouse in his stew.
Said the waiter "Don't shout,
And wave it about,
Or the others will all want one, too."
'cynical and stupid comments in this thread' - so please why not give us your comments?
'some people never learn to keep their crass ignorance behind them'-so what worry you?
Perhaps - any conflict of interest maybe? If yes - then the below migt look to be trash
It is like the glass of water. Some say it's half empty and some say it's half full.
Firstly, why in the second paragraph it is mentioned that the RASFF has been alerted to investigate and in the last paragraph it says that action will be taken against the person responsible. Has the Inspectorate identified any local foul play? Also, the statement should have clarified whether this meal was prepared at the hospital canteen or brought in ready prepared.
n.b. It seems that there are no wheelchairs available for out-patients at our state of the art hospital....
This is pretty serious, if it is a genuine case after all. Can someplease someone explain to us how a kitchen employee did not recognize the head of a mouse for the rest of the vegetables?
I think the health department should dig deep in the case and not just shift the blame to the supplier abroad.
It Must have come from Belgium!
poor mickey he should have been roaming in disney land and not in the nurses canteen.
I wonder if the nurse had to pay for Her meal????
Do the private rooms have the same menu???
Do not let anyone fool you. The producer is liable towards you - then if he did things right and if he can prove the mouse came from the packet then he will be able to sue the foreign company.
@The Health Department Officials.
Who witnessed mickey's head apart of the nurse ?
Are we sure it came from the veg mix ?
No way can you nail the Veg Importer for such findings (common sense).
Before taking action investigations should be made.
@ P Scicluna
What do you mean pay in gold and get monkeys ?
This is not a case of buying cheap stock(veg) and getting a head's mouse instead.
@The Caterer at The Hospital Canteen.
Take the head for tests to try and find out where it came from.If this was frozen,thawed,cooked and served well surely results will prove what really happened.
Interview all catering staff concerned with the possibilty of gathering precise information.
This is a serious allegation and should be done with utmost importance.
I wonder if the nurse will ever go to eat from the canteen again!!!
probably Mater Dei is on a cost cutting spree... to try new ways of "alternative" cheap food to minimize the cost of running the hospital.
Still no excuse, action please.
The nurse might already have eaten the rest of the mouse before discovering the head...
Reminds me of the joke:
"Q: Whats worse than finding a worm in your apple?
A: Finding HALF a worm...!"
Did the mouse have his ID card upon him? I would very like the Health Inspectors to answer me.
How could the Health Inspectors determine that the mouse came from the packet and not from the local kitchen????????????????????????
Dear Health Inspectors - Please do things right. We are today living in 2008 and we are not longer fools.
I am able to destroy your theory in a couple of seconds - immagine a good lawyer!!!!
MIGHT JUST HAVE BEEN ONE OF THOSE MOUSE JOKES.
Probably the cook thought it was the day's special delicacy:)
I wonder where the other parts of the mouse are, and which brand are we talking about.
1. How did the caterer determine that the foreign object came from Frozen Veg and not from
another source? Is this just a supposition?
2. Health department must know that banning of a batch of food takes place when a foreign
object is found upon the opening of the pkt / case.
3. It will be very difficult for the caterer to prove that the mouse head came from that packet
unless he truly keep updated and proven records of traceability.
4. Has the person who cooked the meal a Food handling licence? If yes, did he check the
product prior to cooking? If no, I believe no one will take this responsibility and the caterer
will get in big trouble.
5. As my other friend readers said - we are paying gold for the service - it is the labourer that gets paid with peanuts.
It could also have been a very very very ROUGH JOKE.
The Times told us that Vegetables were imported, so here we are looking for a scapegoat, but still the Caterer is responsable especially if he observed HACCAP rules. Cateres know what I am talking about. Mouse's head looks much different from the rest of vegetables unless they were overcooked and looked gray. They say that when you pay peanut you get monkeys but this is different we are paying in gold and getting monkeys.