Storage area ban for mouse droppings store
9:04am Wednesday 16th January 2013 in News
n A FOOD store has been banned from using part of its premises after Bolton Council environmental health officers found vegetables and other foodstuff contaminated with mouse droppings.
At Bolton Magistrates Court yesterday, the council was granted a Hygiene Emergency Prohibition Order stopping the Bartak Food Store in Derby Street from using a loading a storage area at the back of the premises.
Catherine Waudby, for the council, told magistrates that last Thursday inspectors Sheila Chisholm and Christopher Smith visited the store, which operates as a general grocers and halal butchers, over a complaint about food labelling.
But while there, they discovered the loading area at the back of the store, where boxes of vegetables and fruit, including plums, apples and lycees, are stored, was infested with mice droppings and that mouse urine contaminating the food.
“Mouse droppings were obvious on food and on the shelves and flooring where food was stored,” said Mrs Waudby. The officers closed that part of the shop immediately, believing the state of the premises was an “imminent risk” to health.
In court, Barkat Foodstore director Jabir Mohamed Patel did not oppose the granting of the Hygiene Emergency Prohibition Order. He said the mouse infestation was a recent problem and steps were being taken to resolve it.
As well as the order, magistrates ruled the contaminated food should be destroyed. The shop is not banned from trading, but must not use the storage area until council officials agree it meets hygiene standards and lift the prohibition order.
