Store fined over mice infestation

Shoppers complained of mice nesting in the displays

A supermarket chain has been fined £33,500 after mouse droppings, urine and partially gnawed food were found in one of its stores.

Hackney Council environmental health officers made the discovery at the Safeway store in Stamford Hill in Hackney, east London, in June 2003.

Southwark Crown Court heard the food being sold was unfit for consumption due to a "severe infestation" of mice.

The bakery section was also heavily contaminated with rodent droppings.

Safeway pleaded guilty to six offences relating to health and safety at Thames Magistrates' Court in June 2004.

Safeway had a system that can be described in this way: it worked well provided there was not a problem Miles Bennett, defending

Judge Andrew Goymer said photographs he had seen showed the "quite disgusting state of the premises at Stamford Hill in which displays and food were heavily contaminated with rodent faeces and urine".

"It's essential that any company, particularly a company operating a substantial number of stores throughout the UK, must take seriously its responsibility to prevent rodent infestation," he said.

Environmental health officers had received complaints from shoppers who said they had seen mice nesting in foodstuffs on display.

Despite officers offering advice to the store manager on how to deal with the problem, they found conditions to be "unsatisfactory" on a return visit.

The store was closed while areas were cleaned up and food was removed but the environmental health officers noted staff were not given gloves for protection.

Taken over by Morrisons

The court also heard the company had previously been fined for similar offences.

The company, which was trading at the time as Safeway plc, has since been taken over by rival Morrisons. It is now called Safeway Stores Ltd.

Miles Bennett, defending, told the court that Morrisons now ran the company in a "completely different and better way" since the takeover in March.

He said: "Safeway had a system that can be described in this way: it worked well provided there was not a problem."

He said Safeway used to rely on store managers to deal with infestation problems but Morrisons had a policy that head office should be notified straight away.