diff --git a/backend/src/routes/items.ts b/backend/src/routes/items.ts
index c94064b..6cb826c 100755
--- a/backend/src/routes/items.ts
+++ b/backend/src/routes/items.ts
@@ -93,6 +93,14 @@ router.get('/', asyncRoute(async (req: Request, res: Response) => {
 }));
 
 router.get('/:id', asyncRoute(async (req: Request, res: Response) => {
+  // Number() rather than readId(), and that is deliberate rather than an
+  // oversight. readId would be stricter and would match every other id-taking
+  // route (#207) — but errorHandling.integration.test.ts drives this exact
+  // route with a non-numeric id to prove that asyncRoute plus the error
+  // middleware answer 500 rather than leaving the request hanging, and a
+  // stricter parse here would leave that test green while removing the thing
+  // it tests. Switching this over means giving that test another trigger in
+  // the same change. See #307.
   const rows = await publicItemQuery()
     .where('i.id', '=', Number(req.params.id))
     .where((eb) => notPending(eb))
diff --git a/backend/tests/unit/itemFilters.test.ts b/backend/tests/unit/itemFilters.test.ts
index 4986357..eda7a28 100644
--- a/backend/tests/unit/itemFilters.test.ts
+++ b/backend/tests/unit/itemFilters.test.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
-import { parseItemFilters, FilterError } from '../../src/itemFilters';
+import { parseItemFilters, FilterError, itemFilterExpressions, ItemFilters } from '../../src/itemFilters';
 import { db } from '../../src/db';
-import { itemFilterExpressions, ItemFilters } from '../../src/itemFilters';
 
 describe('parseItemFilters', () => {
   it('returns empty filters for an empty query', () => {