Kamikaze Meeces

[khaosworks]

Mice to test athletes' food for poisoning at Beijing Olympics

White mice will be used to test athletes' food at the 2008 Beijing Olympics to make sure it is not poisoned.

The Xinhua news agency says milk, alcohol, salad, rice, oil, salt and seasonings will be tested by white mice, 24 hours before they are used in cooking or served to athletes.

Beijing's Municipal Health Inspection Bureau says the mice will develop adverse reactions to poisoning within 17 hours, much sooner than other testing methods.

Other safeguards will also be used.

All of the food arriving at Olympic restaurants will be monitored and recorded and food storage areas will be fitted with alarms and video cameras.

Kitchens will also be guarded around the clock.

Comments

[haloumi.livejournal.com]

If I had read about this for any other event, I would have assumed that it was spin to cover a mouse plague that they can't contain before the event.

We (still) get the occasional mouse plague in Australia, although not during the current drought. I wonder if farmers have ever considered selling nibbled grain as 'safety tested by our smallest employees'.