The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that during a Nov. 16 inspection of the Shawnee Heights High School food services area, a state inspector found the decomposing body of a baby mouse. The dead mouse, nestled between a stack of refried beans and chemical cleaner in a warehouse connected to the kitchen, was one sign of the presence of mice.

The USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) will release on Wednesday a report from the National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine that details the potential food safety benefits and consequences of publishing inspection and testing data with the names of specific meat, poultry and egg product processing plants on the Internet for public access.

SUMMARY

CANADA -- A food microbiology professor with the University of Manitoba suggests approaches such as a stepped-up focus on HACCP offer greater potential as a food safety mechanism than does the labelling of food products according to their country of origin, writes Bruce Cochrane.

JoNel Aleccia of msnbc reports that turning imperfect, mislabeled or outright contaminated foods into edible -- and profitable -- goods is so common that virtually all producers do it, at least to some extent, sources say.

Elizabeth Weise asks in USA Todaydoesn’t really answer the who-should-pay question, but does ask, what if it were possible to almost entirely do away with E. coli in ground beef and it would cost only about a penny a burger?

Health-types have reported a suspected case of hepatitis A in a student living in Maritime Hall in the University of Guelph’s South Residence. (that’s in Canada).

Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra was admitted to hospital Tuesday morning due to diarrhea caused by food poisoning, the Thai government said. Yingluck now stays in Rama 9 hospital in downtown Bangkok and she has not canceled any schedule yet, an official at the Government House told Xinhua. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-11/29/c_131276499.htm

What GAO Found