Canterbury District Health Board protection officer Malcolm Walker has released a new book documenting the things food inspectors encounter — a weta in an ice cream, shotgun pellets in a steak, live maggots in a pie and a sliced mouse in a bread loaf.

The sliced mouse, an incident in Whanganui, occurred after a bakery’s pest control programme resulted in a mouse dying in a baking tray. The dough was dropped on top and the mouse was baked into the loaf. The mouse passed through the bread slicer and was perfectly sectioned.

The book also covers officers’ responses to the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake – which was a lot worse than most of the world realizes.