British bread may contain rat droppings

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LONDON, Jan. 22 (UPI) -- Bread made in Britain may contain the droppings, urine or hairs of rats as scores of the animals are suspected of tainting wheat crops, a group says.

The National Pest Technicians Association has warned that last year's wheat harvest may have been tainted by rats desperately attempting to avoid Britain's cold weather by entering manmade structures, The Daily Telegraph said Thursday.

The group also warned that wholemeal bread has a greater chance of containing rat hairs and droppings due to the fact it undergoes less processing.

British Pest Controllers Association regional manager Kevin Higgins agreed that cold weather this winter has driven a high percentage of the United Kingdom's estimated 40 million rats indoors.

But Martin Savage, the National Association of British and Irish Millers' trade policy manager, told the Telegraph such claims of contaminated wheat will likely go unsubstantiated.

"This could provoke a food scare and it's absolute nonsense," he said.