I've only ever seen a mouse at a restaurant once. I was visiting Halifax (that's in Canada) and had dinner at a popular downtown eatery, Alfredo, Weinstien and Ho's (the ultimate Italian-Deli-Asian food experience - which has apparently closed). For about 10 minutes we saw a mouse dart in and out of view grabbing food from the floor. After flagging our server down and alerting him to the mouse, he and the manager discretely moved some furniture and the mouse fled the room. The manager came over, thanked us for not making a scene and comped all of our meals (but said we had to pay for our bar tab); not a bad deal.

While mice infestations and droppings elicit a yuck-factor response from TV personalities and guests, I'd prefer to know about how well the staff manages the recognized foodborne illness risk factors: improper cooking temps; improper storage/holding temps; handwashing and hygiene; cross-contamination and safe sources.

In an excellently-titled post, I’m Ralphin’ It of the Day, The Daily What has a video of a mouse problem at a Philly McDonald's. The video, taken by former employee Karruim Demaio shows a mouse running through a Big Mac bun bag. Pests (rodent and insect) are often a problem for food businesses. Warm, dark places with lots of food is a good spot for a mouse or flies to live. It's not surprising that there are mice in a storage room.

What is surprising is that Demaio says a manager told him to brush droppings off of the buns and serve them. He says the same manager was seen wiping off pest droppings in the past.

Who knows whether the brush-and-serve actually happened - but that's where the risk discussion lies. It's not really a problem until the food makes it to a patron. Identifying a pest problem and dealing with it (which might have happened) happens in a business with a good food safety culture; brush-and-serve doesn't. All the video shows is that a mouse was there.

Video Shows Mouse In Bag Of Big Mac Rolls: MyFoxPHILLY.com

New York magazine gave Bobo restaurant top marks and called it a "frenetically voguish ... triumph of style over substance."

And apparently, safety.

DNAinfo reports health inspectors hit the chic West Village restaurant Bobo with 62 health violation points on Saturday, forcing it to close.

The Health Department found flies, evidence of mice and improperly washed surfaces that come in contact with food at the 181 W. 10th St. restaurant, according to the city's website.

Bobo received a warning from the Health Department earlier this summer, when it racked up 38 violation points in a June 4 inspection, earning it a C grade.

Inspectors cited the eatery at the time for evidence of mice and cold foods being kept at temperatures that were too high.

Benalla Rural City, north on Mebourne in Australia, has announced eight confirmed cases of salmonella poisoning while several suspected cases are awaiting the outcome of tests.

Benalla Rural City Council senior environmental health officer Callum Morrison told the Shepparton News in a small rural shire there were normally one or two cases of salmonella poisoning a year, so the spike in infections was unusual.

A Birmingham mum went wild in the aisles – when newborn mice burst out of crisp packets in a busy supermarket.

Stunned shopper Liz Wray was horrified when she saw half a dozen pink mice emerge from multipacks of crisps at a new Tesco store in Aston Lane, Aston.

The mum-of-one snapped pictures of the mice on her phone (right) and confronted the store manager but said she was horrified Tesco bosses decided not to shut the store down.

“All the staff did was put a cardboard box over the mice and closed aisle six,” said Liz, a health visitor from Kings Norton. “I was with a work colleague who reached out towards the crisps and started screaming.

“Suddenly these tiny pink things appeared from the multipacks and were lying in front of us.

“They were repulsive and made me feel revolting. There were half a dozen of them crawling out of different holes in the crisps and we couldn’t believe our eyes. …

“When I told the store manager, he said ‘We can’t do much about it because we are near a canal and railway track and the mice tend to come through the floor.’”