Islington Council has responded to the video of rats scurrying over the bakery section at a Sainsbury's. Catch the footage here:
Filmmaker Anthony Mitson was in the Essex Road branch of Sainsbury's when he spotted rats running rampant all over the French pastries.
The video soon went viral, and Sainsbury's spoke out to say that pest control had been called.
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Islington Council's Commercial Environmental Health, Public Protection and Regulatory Services team has since released the results of its investigation into the store's pest records and hygiene control and explained exactly how the rodents got in.
After looking at the 'overview' of the 'pest records submitted' by the store, Islington council found that 'there were ongoing issues with rats during 2021, particularly relating to external areas and the bakery and chiller areas'.
Despite these issues with rodents having been identified in the records, the council found that 'housekeeping/cleaning' in a bid to stop encouraging rats was only 'intermittently maintained'.
The council's report, obtained by Metro, continued: "There was also a number of pest proofing issues identified by Rentokil that appeared to take some time to repair and is likely to have contributed to allowing access to pests.
"The more recent rat activity was identified by staff in the bakery area on 15 September and again cleaning and proofing works around the chillers and ceiling void were identified by Rentokil on these subsequent visits."
'As a result of complaints received from the public and a video which had been posted online regarding a potential rat infestation,' the council first paid the Sainsbury's branch a visit on 4 October 2021.
Three days previously, a sighting of a rat had been reported by one of the store's customers and the store had been temporarily closed.
At the time, Sainsbury's said it was 'taking immediate action to clean [its] Essex Road store and pest control been called'.
In a letter, Sainsbury's stated: "It was understood rats had gained access to the ceiling voids and there were entry/exit points above the adjacent retail chillers.
"[REDACTED] enquired about the drainage system and found droppings around the external manhole gully.
"[REDACTED] sent a follow-up letter requesting pest control reports, pest control procedures, due diligence checks records, and an action plan on how the company proposed to deal with this to prevent a reoccurrence."
A letter from the council's Public Protection team, sent in February 2022, noted the findings of the unnamed inspector's second visit just two days later.
It read: "During this visit, [REDACTED] was advised that the rats had entered the premises via the sewer system where they had gained access to the ceiling void area above the bakery.
"[REDACTED] was advised that all pest proofing issues were being repaired and sensors and cameras were being fitted for continued surveillance of the rodent infestation."
Asserting that it was sure the rodent problem had been dealt with, Sainsbury's re-opened the branch on 11 October.
It reflected: "The root cause was identified as problems with the drainage system, including a collapsed drain, and it is understood that this, and all other necessary repairs within the premises, has now been completed.
"However, this drainage system area was not investigated until [REDACTED] conducted the visit."
A Sainsbury's spokesperson told Metro: "All our stores have strict pest control and hygiene processes. These were in place at our Essex Road store and additional, immediate steps were taken at the time of this incident last year.
"The council and Environmental Health confirmed they were satisfied with the steps which were taken at the time."
A spokesperson for Sainsbury's told LADbible: "All our stores have strict pest control and hygiene processes. These were in place at our Essex Road store and additional, immediate steps were taken at the time of this incident last year.
"The council and Environmental Health confirmed they were satisfied with the steps which were taken at the time."
Poppy Bilderbeck