Asda fined £300k over dead mice in London warehouse

The grocer has been fined £300,000 by Enfield Council in north London after inspecting officers discovered mouse dropping on shelves and a packet of cereal and a bag of sugar gnawed by rodents during a visit to its home delivery warehouse in May last year.

Asda conceded that three food safety and hygiene breaches had occurred, at the Highbury Magistrates’ Court in January, resulting in the fine as well as £4,843.61 in court costs this month.

The warehouse in question distributes food deliveries to the grocer’s online shoppers across London and Essex.

Asda ‘deeply sorry’

A spokesman for the supermarket said: “The conditions found at our Enfield home shopping centre in May 2016 were completely unacceptable and we are deeply sorry that on this occasion the strict processes we have in place failed at a local level.

“We would like to reassure all our customers that immediate steps were taken as soon as the issue was flagged last year to restore the high standards that our customers expect from us.”

Enfield Council’s cabinet member for environment Daniel Anderson said: “It beggars belief that a national retailer would allow food to be stored in an environment where rodents are running riot.

“It is simply unacceptable for customers to be exposed to the potential risk of harm because a company cannot get its house in order and store foodstuff in a safe and hygienic manner.”