# Woman Finds Mouse Head In Can Of Green Beans . . . **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 4, 2007, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-finds-mouse-head-in-can-of-green-beans/421534 "2007-10-04T19:30:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2007, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-finds-mouse-head-in-can-of-green-beans/421534/41 "2007-10-05T18:27:46Z")
[QUOTE=Beaucarnea] I don’t understand the horror expressed in the OP-what is the disconnect between cow, chicken, pig, and mouse? It’s all meat.\*\* [/QUOTE] I don’t eat: (A) The heads of animals (B) Any part of mouse (C) Any animal part I find unexpectedly in a place it shouldn’t be like, say, _a can of green beans_. Now, maybe to you nothing says Christmas like passing around a big bowl of fresh mouseheads, but it’s pretty silly for you to act like yours is the only understandable, reasonable position. ---
**Author:** ![Beaucarnea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c0e974/32.png) [@Beaucarnea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beaucarnea)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2007, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-finds-mouse-head-in-can-of-green-beans/421534/42 "2007-10-05T20:16:31Z")
When did I say I didn’t understand? [QUOTE=Beaucarnea] After reviewing your cite, I don’t have a leg to stand on. Previous cases support litigation. I can also agree that legal action forces a manufacturer to tighten the inspection process, and we will all benefit from that. For some people, a mouse head in a can of beans is a winning lottery ticket. [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Beaucarnea] I understand why someone would be grossed out and disappointed when they find a foreign object in a can of beans. I understand why a public stink was raised over the incident. [/QUOTE] Mouse head = gross. Melodramatic squealing, threatening litigation, sticking your fingers in your ears la, la,la = willful ignorance about the food harvest and processing industry. This is a wake-up call. Some of our food comes right out of the ground…ewww. Some of our food has tiny infestations of pests unseen by the naked eye. Our grains and cererals are plagued with weevils. Don’t ask me what is in your beef and your pork: you do **not** want to know. Our food is _drenched_ in pesticides and herbicides, our livestock are treated with scores of steroids, antibiotics and pesticides (wormers)- this should cause alarm, _this_ calls for attention, _this_ calls for investigation and possible litigation. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2007, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-finds-mouse-head-in-can-of-green-beans/421534/43 "2007-10-05T20:36:05Z")
[QUOTE=Beaucarnea] Sure there is a difference- a \*cultural \* difference. In some countries, that mouse is food. [/quote] That’s not what I meant at all - finding a cube of chicken breast in a can of vegetable soup probably means some kind of administrative cockup happened and the wrong ingredients got on the wrong production line. Finding a mouse head potentially means there is a hygiene/vermin problem at the factory - unless they do in fact have a _canned mouse heads_ production line. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2007, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-finds-mouse-head-in-can-of-green-beans/421534/44 "2007-10-05T20:39:59Z")
[QUOTE=Beaucarnea] When did I say I didn’t understand? [/quote] Right here: “I don’t understand the horror expressed in the OP-what is the disconnect between cow, chicken, pig, and mouse? It’s all meat” – as if there’s no difference between filet mignon and head of mouse. I think you’re being willfully obtuse. > [@](#): > > Melodramatic squealing, threatening litigation, sticking your fingers in your ears la, la,la = willful ignorance about the food harvest and processing industry. I’d appreciate it if you would highlight for me where I have demonstrated either “melodramatic squealing” or “ignorance abut the food harvest and processing industry.” It isn’t that I’m ignorant of the relevant processes and you’re not, it’s that I apparently have higher standards for those processes than you do. Mine do not include considering the head of _any_ mammal in a can of _anything_ to be acceptable. > [@](#): > > This is a wake-up call. Some of our food comes right out of the ground…ewww. Some of our food has tiny infestations of pests unseen by the naked eye. Our grains and cererals are plagued with weevils. Again, you refuse to acknowledge obvious differences of type and scale, by reverting the discussion back to “pests unseen by the naked eye” or even “food that comes right out of the ground,” for which read “vegetables,” to which my response is that now you’re just being stupid. > [@](#): > > Our food is _drenched_ in pesticides and herbicides, our livestock are treated with scores of steroids, antibiotics and pesticides (wormers)- this should cause alarm, _this_ calls for attention, _this_ calls for investigation and possible litigation. YOU are not the arbiter of what calls for alarm, attention, investigation, or litigation. If your panties are in a knot over pesticides, start a thread on it. Again, none of this has anything to do with dismissing a mouse head in a can of beans as something that “occasionally happens.” This is a great example of how some people on the Boards have to take every fucking thing straight up the nose. A person cannot post even something as self-evident as “jeez, mouse head in beans, maybe ‘these things happen’ isn’t the best response by the company” – not even in MPSIMS – without someone dropping by to extrapolate “mouse head in a can of beans” all the way over to “herbicides on vegetables” for no other reason than to create a fucking argument where none need exist. You agree that “mouse head = gross”. Why the fuck you can’t just leave it at that is beyond me. ---
**Author:** ![Beaucarnea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c0e974/32.png) [@Beaucarnea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beaucarnea)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2007, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-finds-mouse-head-in-can-of-green-beans/421534/45 "2007-10-05T20:40:58Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] That’s not what I meant at all - finding a cube of chicken breast in a can of vegetable soup probably means some kind of administrative cockup happened and the wrong ingredients got on the wrong production line. Finding a mouse head potentially means there is a hygiene/vermin problem at the factory - unless they do in fact have a _canned mouse heads_ production line. [/QUOTE] There is _undoubtedly_ a potential hygiene/vermin problem at _every_ food processing factory. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2007, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-finds-mouse-head-in-can-of-green-beans/421534/46 "2007-10-05T20:43:15Z")
[QUOTE=Beaucarnea] There is _undoubtedly_ a potential hygiene/vermin problem at _every_ food processing factory. [/QUOTE] :rolleyes: There are _potential_ hygiene problems everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Beaucarnea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c0e974/32.png) [@Beaucarnea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beaucarnea)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2007, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-finds-mouse-head-in-can-of-green-beans/421534/47 "2007-10-05T20:47:13Z")
[QUOTE=Jodi] A person cannot post even something as self-evident as “jeez, mouse head in beans, maybe ‘these things happen’ isn’t the best response by the company” – not even in MPSIMS – without someone dropping by to extrapolate “mouse head in a can of beans” all the way over to “herbicides on vegetables” for no other reason than to create a fucking argument where none need exist. You agree that “mouse head = gross”. Why the fuck you can’t just leave it at that is beyond me. [/QUOTE] Because some people extrapolate a “gross, a mouse head in a can of beans” all the way over to an opportunity for litigation. ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2007, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-finds-mouse-head-in-can-of-green-beans/421534/48 "2007-10-05T20:49:44Z")
oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god That’s the brand we (used to) buy. :eek: Edit to add - I have rodent phobia. ---
**Author:** ![A.R.Cane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@A.R.Cane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.R.Cane)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2007, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-finds-mouse-head-in-can-of-green-beans/421534/49 "2007-10-05T21:01:23Z")
[QUOTE=lisacurl] oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god That’s the brand we (used to) buy. :eek: Edit to add - I have rodent phobia. [/QUOTE] I doubt that brand makes a lot of difference in a case like this. Canneries supply any number of brands. It should be noted that there wouldn’t be any danger of germs since the product was likely well cooked, but the yuck factor is pretty high. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2007, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-finds-mouse-head-in-can-of-green-beans/421534/50 "2007-10-05T21:09:18Z")
[QUOTE=Beaucarnea] There is _undoubtedly_ a potential hygiene/vermin problem at _every_ food processing factory. [/QUOTE] Are you just arguing for fun? There is a difference - not of cultural ickyness - between _wrong ingredients_ and _foreign bodies_. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2007, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-finds-mouse-head-in-can-of-green-beans/421534/51 "2007-10-05T21:13:50Z")
[QUOTE=Beaucarnea] Because some people extrapolate a “gross, a mouse head in a can of beans” all the way over to an opportunity for litigation. [/QUOTE] First, whether or not a mouse head in a can of beans supports litigation is not the subject of this thread, and wasn’t even something I discussed until it was raised by someone else. Second, even if the subject under discussion _were_ whether that is an “opportunity for litigation,” you haven’t actually addressed yourself to that point, instead choosing to argue – pointlessly – that a mouse head in a can of beans is not that big of a deal, which is obviously only your opinion. Third, construing a foreign object in foodstuffs as a potential source of litigation requires no “extrapolation,” since that result is not uncommon, especially in the suit-happy U.S. Whether such suit are or should be _successful_ is another question, but whether a large unexpected gross foreign body in your food presents at least the _opportunity_ for suit is pretty much beyond argument. Fourth, even if you were truly interested in making that argument – which nothing in your posts leads me to believe is the case – you’d actually have to acknowledge that herbicides and mouse heads are not actually the same things or even in the same ballpark when you’re discussing why a law suit would not be appropriate in this particular case. IOW, if you had a reasonable anti-lawsuit argument to make you’d have made it, instead of just arguing for argument’s sake. Which is my point: Arguing for argument’s sake is common as dirt around here, but it’s fucking annoying in MPSIMS, _especially_ when you don’t even actually disagree with the premise of the thread. ---
**Author:** ![Beaucarnea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c0e974/32.png) [@Beaucarnea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beaucarnea)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2007, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-finds-mouse-head-in-can-of-green-beans/421534/52 "2007-10-05T21:17:36Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] Are you just arguing for fun? There is a difference - not of cultural ickyness - between _wrong ingredients_ and _foreign bodies_. [/QUOTE] Not at all, I take this topic seriously. The fact remains that there are going to be foreign bodies in our food, and just because they are small enough not be noticed by the casual observer, does not mean they don’t exist. We all eat a certain amount of pests with each meal, even those of us who grow our food. I feel that a hysterical reaction and threat of litigation is disproportionate to the incident. There are much bigger concerns than the occasional animal floating in processed food, but we only freak out when we can _see_ the contaminant. Shouldn’t we freak out about the _unseen_ contaminants? In other words, relax- it is just a mouse, or a food to some cultures. It is gross, so throw it out, and open another can. We’ve been eating processed food your whole life that is increasingly rife with artifical contaminants, and will continue to do so, and the average consumer hardly notices, or cares. ---
**Author:** ![Beaucarnea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c0e974/32.png) [@Beaucarnea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beaucarnea)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2007, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-finds-mouse-head-in-can-of-green-beans/421534/53 "2007-10-05T21:22:06Z")
[QUOTE=Jodi] IOW, if you had a reasonable anti-lawsuit argument to make you’d have made it, instead of just arguing for argument’s sake. Which is my point: Arguing for argument’s sake is common as dirt around here, but it’s fucking annoying in MPSIMS, _especially_ when you don’t even actually disagree with the premise of the thread. [/QUOTE] I disagree with the over-reaction. I disagree with the unrealistic expectations of the consumer who falls to pieces over a rodent in food that the consumer did not grow, harvest, pack, ship, or stock. Our food is abundant, cheap, and easy. Perfection cannot be guaranteed. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2007, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-finds-mouse-head-in-can-of-green-beans/421534/54 "2007-10-05T21:23:53Z")
Whether a mouse head in your food is something to get upset about is a matter of opinion. It’s apparently no big deal to you, for which, hey – congratulations. It’s a big fucking deal to a lot of other people and they are not incorrect, hysterical, or “disproportionate” to feel that way, because nobody died and made you the Grand Arbiter of “Big Deals In Food Adulteration.” Although it does make me want to send written warning out to anyone invited to dine at your house, mostly just by way of a public service. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2007, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-finds-mouse-head-in-can-of-green-beans/421534/55 "2007-10-05T21:37:51Z")
[QUOTE=Beaucarnea] Not at all, I take this topic seriously. The fact remains that there are going to be foreign bodies in our food, and just because they are small enough not be noticed by the casual observer, does not mean they don’t exist. We all eat a certain amount of pests with each meal, even those of us who grow our food. I feel that a hysterical reaction and threat of litigation is disproportionate to the incident. There are much bigger concerns than the occasional animal floating in processed food, but we only freak out when we can _see_ the contaminant. [/quote] Of course we only freak out when we see the contaminant. We can hardly react to what we don’t know. > [@](#): > > Shouldn’t we freak out about the _unseen_ contaminants? It depends on what is implied by their presence. In this case, what may be implied is not just accidental or normal contamination - it could be indicative of negligent hygiene at the factory. > [@](#): > > In other words, relax- it is just a mouse, or a food to some cultures. It is gross, so throw it out, and open another can. We’ve been eating processed food your whole life that is increasingly rife with artifical contaminants, and will continue to do so, and the average consumer hardly notices, or cares. There must be _some_ level at which you would consider contamination excessive, what is it? ---
**Author:** ![Beaucarnea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c0e974/32.png) [@Beaucarnea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beaucarnea)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2007, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-finds-mouse-head-in-can-of-green-beans/421534/56 "2007-10-05T22:08:33Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] Of course we only freak out when we see the contaminant. We can hardly react to what we don’t know. It depends on what is implied by their presence. In this case, what may be implied is not just accidental or normal contamination - it could be indicative of negligent hygiene at the factory. There must be _some_ level at which you would consider contamination excessive, what is it? [/QUOTE] I _do_ find the mouse in the beans excessive- I would throw the can and contents out. But… that hardly ever happens, _and_ we eat pests with each meal in small, unrecognizable parts, _and_ I find the amount of pesticides, herbicides, steroids, antibiotics in nearly all of our processed food far more worthy of alarm. Informed, educated consumers will force large farms and plants to re-evaluate and improve their standards and processes. Why _aren’t_ you (collective _you_) concerned with the unseen contaminents? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2007, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-finds-mouse-head-in-can-of-green-beans/421534/57 "2007-10-05T22:25:25Z")
[QUOTE=Jodi] Whether a mouse head in your food is something to get upset about is a matter of opinion. It’s apparently no big deal to you, for which, hey – congratulations. It’s a big fucking deal to a lot of other people and they are not incorrect, hysterical, or “disproportionate” to feel that way, because nobody died and made you the Grand Arbiter of “Big Deals In Food Adulteration.” [/QUOTE] Okay, so how much would you be willing to pay more for your beans to ensure that you’ll never hear of a story like this? Quality levels (and my wife used to be quality control director of a vegetable cannery - not green beans) are good enough that the overwhelming probability is that you personally will never see contamination. Every extra nine of quality costs a lot more. Simple solution though - buy fresh or grow your own. I’ll never find a mouse head in the beans I pick from my garden for dinner. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2007, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-finds-mouse-head-in-can-of-green-beans/421534/58 "2007-10-05T22:31:20Z")
[QUOTE=Harmonious Discord] They don’t weigh individual slices of beans and drop them in the can. The chopped beans are filled in mass and a weight for the can would check the fullness of the can. [/QUOTE] Yeah, but they might get sorted, in order to eliminate tiny little pieces of bean that would look bad, or the inevitable sticks and things that get mixed in. You’d think a mouse head (or mouse) wouldn’t make it through there. The owner of the factory my wife worked at had invented an okra sorting machine, which no one ever did before. Anyone consider that a disgruntled employee put the mousehead into the can? Depending on the process, that seems likely. Remember, Wendy’s didn’t put the finger in the chili. A guy in my wife’s factory did lose a wedding ring in a can. The person who found it returned it, without complaint, and got a whole bunch of cans of beans as a thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Epimetheus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c4cdca/32.png) [@Epimetheus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Epimetheus)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2007, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-finds-mouse-head-in-can-of-green-beans/421534/59 "2007-10-05T22:43:23Z")
Unless you have supervised or were a plant manager at a manufacturing plant that produced food, you have no right to say if something is unavoidable. In fact being a lawyer doesn’t even give you that ability. (you can claim it, but it will be wrong). I have worked for such places and I can tell you that you absolutely CANNOT have such a hermetically sealed production area that a mouse or bird will not find its way in. It isn’t possible. Plants spend millions of dollars trying to prevent them, because frankly the fines are horrendous. Not to mention the fact that they can be shut down if a mouse or bird is seen during an inspection. A mouse can crawl in from a neighboring field, somehow not be frightened of the canning machines, and get it’s head lopped off. Since companies are all about profit, and would not exist if they were denied making profits, they have to be realistic about things. They cannot afford to pay several people on each stage of the production process, on each shift, to sit and watch out for every single possible mouse head that may come through. Feasibly, the best thing to do is make it as improbable as possible, which every place I have worked, has done. And continues to do so. They monitor customer complains and work constantly to rid themselves of any and all complaints no matter how minor and trivial (this rice cake isn’t salty enough). Theoretically it is possible. In reality it isn’t. You can sit on your little high horse and say “nothing is unavoidable” but until you run such a company and have to face the harsh realities, I will roll my eyes and say “bullshit, you don’t know what you are talking about.” ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2007, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-finds-mouse-head-in-can-of-green-beans/421534/60 "2007-10-05T22:57:13Z")
Of course it’s not completely avoidable, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t ever cases that could and should have been avoided [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-finds-mouse-head-in-can-of-green-beans/421534.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-finds-mouse-head-in-can-of-green-beans/421534.md?page=4)