Pest-infested West Midlands supermarket fined

A Birmingham store infested with mice, rats and cockroaches has been fined thousands of pounds.

Birmingham Magistrates Court found Altibian Supermarket, in Stratford Road, guilty of three charges brought under the Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013 act.

As well as pest activity, environmental health officers found mouse droppings next to packs of food as well as a gnawed bag of rice which were on sale in the supermarket.

No representatives from Altibian General Trading Ltd, which owns the store, were present at the hearing on Thursday, September 10, and the matter was proved in their absence.

Hannan Aurangzeb, prosecuting on behalf of Birmingham City Council, said a food hygiene inspection on July 8 last year uncovered the presence of mice, rats and cockroaches in the premises.

He said there were also failures to keep the supermarket clean and to protect food from the risk of contamination.

The first charge brought against the company said it had “failed to ensure that adequate procedures were in place to control pests in that; the premises had pest activity in the form of mice, rats & cockroaches which posed an imminent risk to heath of the public.

Charge two said Altibian “did fail to ensure that the food premises was kept clean and maintained in good repair and condition, in that, food storage shelves, flooring and equipment were dirty.

And the third charge said it “did fail to ensure that food was protected from

contamination at all stages of production, processing and distribution, in that mouse droppings were next to and on food packaging, intended for sale. A gnawed bag of rice was found intended for sale.”

Birmingham Magistrates issued a fine of £12,000 and ordered the company to pay a surcharge of £4,800 and prosecution costs of £844.