‘We moved some bread baskets, a rat jumped out, scuttled past me and ran under some shelving’
INSPECTORS CLOSE BAKERY ON THE SPOT AS RISK TO HEALTH
A RAT jumped out at environmental health officers who were inspecting a Leicester bakery – prompting them to immediately shut the place down.
Officials from Leicester City Council went to the Melton Road Bakery after an anonymous tip-off that vermin had been spotted on the premises.
When they arrived at the business in Melton Road, Beglrave, they discovered parts of it to be littered with rat droppings and other dirt and debris, as well as food that had been gnawed by rodents.
They judged the state of the bakery to be an imminent risk to public health and issued a hygiene emergency prohibition order forcing it to close until significant steps have been taken improve it.
The inspection was carried out on Monday morning and the council went to Leicester Magistrates’ Court yesterday to get confirmation of the order and seek more than £1,600 in costs from business director Yusef Kassam Meman.
Mr Meman was invited to attend the hearing but did not do so.
Council food safety officer Adele Lee said she and a colleague went into a back room in the bakery.
She said: “We moved some bread baskets and a rat jumped out, scuttled past me and ran under some shelving.”
She said the shelving and the floor were very dirty. Rat droppings were found on an electric box above a microwave and on the dough proofer.
The officers were unable to move the heavy baking oven but believe there was more faeces under it.
They went into a store room where “the smell of rat urine was quite strong” and found urine stains on the floor.
The court heard there were
chewed bags of cake mix and powered sugar.
Plastic pallets were moved and underneath the officers found “a lot of rat droppings and a pile of chocolate drops” that the rats had taken from their packs.
More droppings were found behind the freezer.
Ms Lee said: “Rats carry lots of viral, parasitic and bacterial diseases – in their urine and on their fur.”
In her inspection report she said there was considerable for rats to contaminate food preparation areas posing a risk of salmonella, Weil’s disease, e.coli and listeria.
She told magistrates: “We explained everything to the director. He didn’t think he had a rat issue but we showed him everything we found.”
Mr Meman was left with a pest action sheet – a list of instructions and conditions he would have to meet before being permitted to trade again.
These included throwing out gnawed food, calling in exterminators, disinfecting the bakery fully and carrying out structural repairs to stop rats getting in.
Ms Lee said she visited the bakery again yesterday morning to see what progress had been made and told the court: “The cleaning aspect was very poor.
“There were still droppings in the back storage area.
“There were smear marks on the walls.”
She said she went outside to the back of the bakery and saw several rats. Holes were found in the attic where the rats were getting in. Feisal Hajat, prosecuting for the council, said: “The business is some way off doing what it needs to do.
“Five per cent of the cleaning had been done. “The business owner is in some difficulty understanding what is required of him.
“The business is in essence clueless about what is needed.” Magistrates confirmed the closure order and ordered the bakery to pay the council’s costs in full.
feisal Hajat, prosecuting for the city council
The business is in essence clueless about what is needed