TESCO has pleaded guilty to six breaches of food safety laws after a major mouse infestation was discovered at one of its central London stores (Photos on Flickr).
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The Metro shop was shut down by Westminster City Council health inspectors in March last year following complaints at the Covent Garden branch.
Officers said they were shocked to discover live rodents in the basement food store, mouse droppings on the base of a dispensing unit for Pick n Mix sweets and on shelving where crisps were displayed on the shop floor, gnawed raw chicken on crates in a basement walk-in fridge and packaging covered in mice droppings.
In their report officers said they found evidence that mice had also gained entry to the store’s bakery.
At Westminster Magistrates Court Tesco Stores Limited pleaded guilty to failing to:
- Keep the premises clean allowing areas of the store to get very dirty
- Have adequate procedures in place to control pests
- Keep raw materials and ingredients in appropriate conditions designed to prevent harmful deterioration and protect them from contamination
- Keep wrapping materials stored in a proper manner, such that they were exposed to a risk of contamination.
- Have a proper layout, design and construction of the food premises to permit good food hygiene practises, including protection against contamination,
- Implement and maintain proper HACCP (Hazard Analysis and critical control points) procedures.
One officer, David Byrne, said he was overcome by the smell of rotting chicken portions that had been left in a dairy and produce cold room despite many items being “well past their ‘use by’ date”.
Paul Sharkey, prosecuting on behalf of Westminster City Council, told the court:
“Alarmingly it was noted that the top bags of chicken portions on the cage were well past their ‘use by’ date. This was the source of the smell of decomposition smelt by Mr Byrne on entering the cold room.”
In total, he said, the officers inspected 34 crates on a trolley in the walk-in fridge.
Mr Sharkey continued:
”Whilst removing crates of chicken, three live mice jumped onto the warehouse floor. A live mice was seen running along the floor of the warehouse.”
He said the officers also found a “huge amount of mice droppings” and gnawed bags of chicken.
More mice droppings were found on the shop floor itself and on shop floor shelves.
He said:
“Underneath the banana display a large hole was found at a point where there was a drainage pipe for display chilled units.
“This hole was partially filled with plastic bags, which had been used as some kind of makeshift proofing material. The bags appeared to have been gnawed by pests. The hole extended through to the basement.
“It provided a likely means of entry for the pests to the shop floor from the basement,”
District Judge John Sanders said:
“I have been shown a bundle of photographs that are in some parts distasteful, in other parts revolting.”
He accepted Tesco’s argument that the “out of date” food was waste and was not likely to have been sold and that the basement was not “overstocked”.
However he added that with a maximum fine of £5,000 for each offence, he did not feel he had sufficient powers to sentence the supermarket giant and committed the case to be sentenced at Southwark Crown Court.
Speaking after the case Safia Khokhar, Westminster City Council Environmental Health Officer, said:
“We are very pleased with this finding.
“The judge decided that this was a sufficiently serious enough case that the fine should be more than he had the powers to give in the Magistrates’ Court.
“That is understandable because this was one of the most concerning breaches of food safety laws we have seen in a long time. The conditions at the store were disgusting and a serious risk to health.
“It doesn’t matter if this was a sole trader or a large superstore the rules are the same in both cases. All food businesses owe it to their customers to keep their food safe and their premises clean and free from pests. These are basic hygiene requirements.
“In this case the store had a terrible mouse infestation which had been allowed to continue despite a high risk of food contamination.
“Even Tesco recognised that there had been serious failures in its own procedures that allowed the situation to get to the stage it did.”
