A man got the shock of his life when he opened a loaf of bread and found a whole mouse inside.

North Antrim Magistrates Court heard how a man purchased a Hyndman's malt loaf from a supermarket in the Ballymoney area before Christmas 2007.

When he unwrapped the loaf he discovered the small lifeless mammal embedded in the base of the bread.

The judge fined the company, D Hyndman and Son Ltd, Maghera, £1,000 plus costs for placing unsafe food on the market.

The managing director of the company was present in court to answer the charge.

A defence lawyer told the court that the presence of the mouse was a shock to the company. He suggested it might have been put in the tin to "sabotage" the baker who has been in business for 60 years and has never had any complaints.

The judge was shown pictures of the mouse in the loaf. The court heard that tins in which the bread is baked were oiled the night before they were filled with dough.

Some time between the tins being sprayed and being filled, the mouse got into the tin, a prosecuting lawyer said.

"In fairness to the defendant they have engaged pest control services who regularly inspect the premises and did so before this incident," she said.

The defence lawyer said an "onerous inspection" is held at the bakery every six weeks and that two field biologists attend each year. There are 131 bait stations in the premises at present, he said.

Staff carry out daily inspections and two full-time cleaners are employed at the bakery who both work eight hours per day.

In imposing the fine, the judge said he had considered public concern but also the steps taken by the company to ensure proper hygiene.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/8092921.stm

Disgusting....and I'm about to eat

sorry but the pic is quite cool...its as if its fossilised

pic looks sick! not cool.

LO0O0O0L maaaan datz a bir funni u n0 ID FAINT IF DAT APPND 2 ME N UFFF VUD NEVA EAT BREAD AGAIN!!!!! im scrd 2 evn g0 buy sum bread n0w v0r if derz a m0uze in it?!

Seems like urban rose is the odd one here....

You seem to like it while everyone else doesn't....

aye, it looks cool! just look at the mouse...you can see the suffering on its little mousey face yet its not burnt to a crisp...just gently baked

^Meh....maybe Admin will like it....

That mouse musta been baked under high temperatures to reduce him to that, i just saw a dead mouse yesterday, he musta been dead for a few months judging from how he looked, and he didn't have that much more meat than this mouse here.

Forget snakes, there was a time when some big lizard type things got into the sewage system and used to come up toilets and well ahem bite the people who were on the toilet

Is that its teeth you can see?

probably....or maybe some bread it decided to taste?

Is its mouth slightly open?

They coulda taken a clearer shot man, that things pixelated.

I feel bad for it. =(

Like poor thing, what was he doing in an oven anyway? Aww..

Don't like mice, but that thing looks like it's been hurt. =(