Tesco’s were fined a total of £23,000 on Friday after a British Telecom P.A. bought a rodent-gnawed bagel stored on a urine-soaked shelf covered in droppings.
“Parts of the bagel were missing. It looked like it had been eaten,” Jill Pearson, 49, told City of London Magistrates’ Court.
Mrs. Pearson, (pictured) of Woodford Green, Essex, had popped into Tesco Express, Holborn Viaduct, next door to her B.T. building, after finishing late on December 5, last year.
“I was going to get a bagel to take home and toast and have it with marmite,” she explained. “I liked the one with seasoned nuts.
“After arriving home I realized the bag had been split or broken in some way. Parts of the bagel looked like they were missing so I put them back in the bag.”
Work colleagues urged her to report Tesco’s and the next day she phoned City of London’s Environmental Health Department, who prosecuted the case case.
Their Environmental Health Officer, Patricia Jones, who has been on the Food Team fifteen years inspected the bagels and the busy store.
“The bagels appeared that they had been gnawed by some rodent. Part of the bagel was missing,” she told the JP’s. “My initial reaction was ‘we have got a problem somewhere’.”
She inspected the bottom shelf where the ‘Food Doctor’ bagels were for sale.
“There was a strong musty smell which over the years I’ve learned is the smell of rodent urine,” she explained. “I also noticed quite a few droppings. Twenty to thirty sprinkled around.”
She spotted telltale rodent evidence in the section. “At least two of the other packets had gnawing damage.”
The officer inspected the fresh-baked area. “I could see a few droppings caught between the shelf and the edgeways.”
The fresh pasta section was no better. “I did find droppings on the shelf.”
Inside the small gloomy storeroom which also housed the oven Mrs. Jones discovered potential rodent entrance points.
“The floor had a bit missing, there were two large holes in the wall behind the oven and a couple of ceiling tiles were missing. “Those holes made it very easy for any rodent to gain entry.”
There were also large gaps between the bottom of the loading door and the floor with protective bristles either worn or chewed away, she added.
She ordered Tesco’s to stop baking immediately, remove items from shelves and clean and disinfect.
Tesco Stores Limited, of Tesco House, Delamare Road, Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, were convicted on two summonses of placing a bagel on the market which was unsafe for human consumption in that it had been gnawed by a rodent, contrary to the General Food Regulations, made under the Food Safety Act 1990 and were fined £10,000 on each.
They were also convicted of failing to provide food premises protected from contamination by pests, namely rodents, contrary to the 2006 Food Hygiene Regulations and were fined £3,000
Tesco’s claimed fundamental “failures” in Mrs. Jones’ investigation, pointing to the fact they had a pest control entry in their records on December 4 and a Rentokil contract.
The company was also ordered to pay £8,551 costs.
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