Vincent Kluska, a 24-year-old car body worker, found a mouse head in a can of Carrefour brand green beans, while preparing his lunch in Annemasse in the Haute-Savoie, France, reported RTL.

The young man noticed something strange in the pan where he was cooking his beans. "I thought something had fallen into the pan," he said, "I looked closer: it was a mouse head with a mustache and hair and a mutilated body. "

Vincent, very surprised, admits he retched. "I couldn’t believe it, it's crazy. Sometimes you hear things like that but when it happens to you it’s unbelievable." The young man was still in shock from the strange discovery and couldn’t understand how this mouse head made its way into the can. The surprise was all the more unpleasant because Vincent had already started eating the can of beans the night before. "The worst part is that I didn’t notice anything different. I went at it head down," he said disgusted.

The Carrefour Market in Annemasse (Haute-Savoie) opened an investigation to determine the origin of this foreign body. "Customer service contacted the client to apologize and to thank him for the alert," said the store, adding "Despite the exceptional nature of this situation, to avoid any inconvenience to another client, Carrefour has decided to recall the remaining lot on the market."

Carrefour, the France-based retailer, is recalling frozen hamburger patties sold under the Carrefour Discount brand in its stores.

Albert Amgar sent along the notice and Amy translated, but I’m still struck with the unique way France has of blaming the consumer; maybe something is lost in translation.

“As a precautionary measure and with no consumer complaints to date, Carrefour has begun a recall of a batch of ground hamburger patties sold in the frozen food section under the Carrefour Discount brand in Carrefour, Carrefour Market, Carrefour City, Carrefour Contact and Carrefour Montagne stores.

“During regular testing undertaken by the supplier, Escherichia Coli O26 H11 bacteria were discovered. Carrefour immediately began to remove these products.

“Carrefour recommends that clients who might still have these products in their possession do not eat them and return them to their store where they will be refunded.

“In general, it is important to remember that thoroughly cooking hamburger patties may prevent the consequences of such a contamination, with the bacteria being killed by a temperature of 65C.”

Good for the supplier for testing for non-O157 shiga-toxin producing E. coli. But it isn’t so easy as cooking; cross-contamination is a huge issue in the food service or home kitchen, especially with frozen patties that people may handle like Frisbees.

Escherichia coli O26 H11 has been found in ground beef, prompting the large distribution group Carrefour to recall a batch of frozen hamburger patties sold under the brand name Carrefour Discount with a best-by date of June 18, 2011.

The frozen hamburger patties, sold in Carrefour, Carrefour Market, Carrefour City and Carrefour Contact, have a sanitation stamp IE 565 EC.

The Carrefour group explained in a press release that consumers who have purchased products with this stamp should not eat them and must return them to the store where they will be reimbursed.

That’s different from advice with other recalls in France, where consumers have been advised to simply cook the burgers until well-done. The new advice probably takes into account the risks of cross-contamination in any kind of kitchen. There was no explanation how the E. coli O26 was detected – whether it was through regular testing or part of a foodborne illness investigation.

Carrefour has set up this toll-free number (for France): 0805 909 809.