Tag Archives: Mice

Rats, mice and cockroaches, oh my – UK KFC needs to clean up

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KFC may be dabbling with marketing food safety (see the lid from a bucket of chicken), but marketing has to be backed up with data. And having a lousy restaurant inspection report will turn anyone’s stomach, no matter how many checkmarks are on things.

Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) is being prosecuted after environmental health inspectors reported finding cockroaches, mice and flies at one of its busiest UK restaurants.

Officials from Westminster Council said that a cockroach scurried across a counter when they visited the fast food outlet in Leicester Square, central London.

They claimed a mouse was seen running across the floor and flies buzzed around their heads at the Coventry Street premises, Press Association reports.

In total, KFC faced 13 charges brought under food hygiene regulations following an inspection on August 15 last year. It has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

NYC restaurant: A mouse in the display case doesn’t mean a failed inspection

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Being the typical older sibling, growing up middle-sister Lisa and I used to pick on youngest-sister Julie. Whenever we watched Disney movies we would assign Julie the nicknames of the odd Disney characters, like Gus-Gus. Gus-Gus, as some may recall, is one of the mice from Cinderella. Although Julie has forgiven us for the torture, the memories clearly have not faded. She messaged me recently to tell me she has acquired a new flatmate, named Gus-Gus, pictured right (next to his Disney counterpart).

While Julie and her new pet become acquainted, a New York City restaurant recently received a passing grade on its inspection even after photos of mice in the food display case were revealed, reports NY1.com.

The New York City Department of Health has given Junior’s Restaurant a passing grade, after two photos surfaced on the Internet which appeared to show a mouse in a display window (picture, right, from the source).

Junior’s owner says he took immediate action when he was made aware of the problem, calling it an isolated incident.

Earlier this week, health inspectors found evidence of mice in non-food areas and issued several violations.

City health inspectors went back Thursday for a reinspection.
The full results will be available on the city health department’s website next week.
 

Mmmm Gus-Gus turds.
 

Mon dieu: There’s a mouse in my pizza

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France Info reports that a Parisian Pizza Hut, where a consumer had found a dead mouse on his pizza last May, was closed by the Prefecture yesterday due to persistent hygiene problems.

A local union representative said there was an “ongoing problem with mice for several years” in this store on the Ledru-Rollin avenue in 7th district of Paris. Management denies the accusations and claims “an act of malice.”
 

Mice Found Twice at the Movies

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I’m a self-proclaimed germ-a-phobe not from a previous experience with foodborne illness, but more from reading and writing for Barfblog.  Also, Microbiology lab in undergrad taught me that germs are everywhere.  It’s enough to make someone like me crazy! I’ve become excessively paranoid about how I prepare my own food at home, and how others prepare food for me.

Last weekend I went with a group of friends to see the new Transformers movie. First thing I did once I got my ticket was check out the concessions. I decided I wasn’t interested in popcorn at the time, but then I saw something that caught my eye. There was a quick flash and a squeak as a mouse scurried from one small hole to another within the baseboards of the concession stand. Then I REALLY didn’t want popcorn.

The sad part was, I had visited the same theater two weekends before to see Angels and Demons. While chatting in the lobby after the movie, my friends and I had seen a small mouse scurry across the floor between the two holes in the base of the concession stand. I considered reporting it to the management, but we had seen a 10pm showing, so the lobby was nearly deserted afterwards, with no management in sight. I brushed it off, but the second time I saw the mouse during my Transformers visit, that was the last straw for me. I reported the mouse to a senior manager, who didn’t seem too concerned, but assured me that he would look into the problem.

I guess all I can do is report the problem, but I can’t help but feel like the staff was already aware of the mouse problem and just chose not to worry about it. Surely one of the concession workers had found some mouse droppings somewhere. Two mouse sightings within two visits to the theatre seem a bit extreme. Yet most of the ratings I found for the facility didn’t voice any complaints about cleanliness of the concessions. The only red flags were that the bathrooms were dirty, but fortunately I didn’t visit the bathrooms there.

If the staff has begun steps to rid the building of mice, I wonder how long it will take. If they haven’t done anything yet, I wonder how long it will be before someone finds mouse droppings in their popcorn.

Ways to get a restaurant closed: killing mice with cooking utensils

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A customer at the Nigerian Kitchen, 1363 W. Wilson, Chicago, called 311 after claiming to see staff using cooking utensils to kill mice.

The restaurant was closed Monday after city health inspectors found mouse feces throughout the restaurant, cockroaches crawling on a wall and wastewater backing up from three clogged sinks in the kitchen.

Inspectors also found a mop sink filled with dozens of tomatoes and green peppers — cut and whole — and ordered them discarded,

Chicagoans who believe a restaurant or other licensed food establishment is operating in an unsafe manner are encouraged to call 311.
 

Real Canadian Superstore discovers rodent control

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The folks that run Canada’s largest grocery store chain – Loblaw Companies –are apparently just learning about pest control. They are also learning that consumers can take pictures with their cell phones and can actually use those phones to call local health types.

The Calgary Herald reports that public complaints prompted health inspectors to visit the Westwinds location of the Real Canadian Superstore 17 times in just over a year before it was ordered closed Tuesday after the discovery of live mice, rodent feces and gnawed packaging.

Rick Holley, a microbiology professor in the University of Manitoba’s department of food science, believes shoppers have every reason to be squeamish at the thought of mice scampering over produce or gnawing on potato chip bags.

"Mice are vectors for salmonella. They carry it and shed it not unlike chicken, cattle or hogs.”

Doug Powell, an associate professor of food safety at Kansas State University, said,

"People might think, ‘What’s the big deal about a little mouse poop?’ But it’s an indicator there could be a whole lot else going on.”

The incident comes weeks after a Loblaws store in Toronto — part of the same company as the Superstore chain — was shut down after a "heavy infestation"of mice and rats, including droppings on sandwich counters, was found.

Company spokeswoman Inge van den Berg said the two occurrences have prompted the store to revamp its pest control procedures.

Beware of falling mice!

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The Birmingham Mail in England reported a couple weeks ago that half a dozen expired mice dropped to the floor next to diners at the food hall in a local Selfridges department store.

The rodents were victims of pest contol measures carried out after mice droppings were spotted in a back-of-house area during regular checks.

caterersearch, who reported the story today, says the mice fell out of the ventilation system.

The surprised diners were refunded and the company apologized in a statement for any distress caused by the fallen mice.

Pest control personnel were called out to clear away the remaining mice.

Additionally, a spokesman explained,

“Environmental health officers were called in to make sure the matter was dealt with and doesn’t happen again.

“At their recommendation we have now identified areas the mice may have been coming in and had those blocked off.”

The spokesman added there had been no more incidents and the food hall was open as usual as soon as these steps were taken.

KATIE FILION: Rodents run amuck at Toronto Loblaw’s

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A Loblaw’s Supermarket in Toronto, Canada, is closed following a customer complaint regarding a mouse inside the store.

Toronto Public Health (TPH) officials closed the store last night, and already Dinesafe, a website designed to disclose inspection results for food premises in the Toronto area, has updated its most recent inspection findings to include infractions discovered last night, such as:

•    failure to ensure food is not contaminated/adulterated;
•    failure to prevent rodent infestation; and,
•    failure to maintain hazardous food(s) at 4C (40F).

According to Dinesafe, the Dupont St. Loblaw’s has passed the last ten TPH inspections, dating back to April 2007.  But are restaurant inspections a good indicator of the quality of an establishment? Or simply a brief snapshot of a food premise at one point in time? And are web-based disclosure systems like Dinesafe the most effective way to communicate inspection results to consumers?

News reports like the ones in the Toronto Sun or Globe and Mail, websites like Dinesafe, and blogs like this or blogTO, get the information out there to consumers. What I am interested in is which of these methods is the most effective.

Mice close Chicago Whole Foods

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"Dear Valued Customers,

As you already know, the Health Department closed our store after finding that we did not fully comply with a few concerns they had, including evidence of mice."

The Chicago Tribune reports that a Whole Foods on North Avenue, in one of Chicago’s wealthiest neighborhoods, was found with mouse feces in the back room and a dead mouse in a glue trap.

Some expressed themselves on the Tribune’s Web site:

•"This is what happens when grocery stores are run by hippies who don’t believe in pesticide."

•"Why can’t mice have an organic experience too? I am shocked that an attorney has not filed a class suit because Whole Foods did not provide adequate bathroom facilities for the mice."

•"Sadly, if Whole Foods packaged [the droppings] nicely as a topping for toast points and charged $10.99 per ounce, the lemming snobs would probably buy it."

Mice at Metropolitan Opera restaurant

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The New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene says on its website that an April 9 restaurant inspection at the Metropolitan Opera found "evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or nonfood areas."

The nation’s largest musical organization also was cited for "food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service."

The department did not issue a notice of violation against the Met because the inspection found 13 violation points — below the average of 15 for New York City restaurants.