Mouse droppings in kids sweets

CHILDREN’S sweets, raw meat and fresh herbs at a Chadderton grocers were infested with mice droppings and insects.

The Bangla Bazaar in Chadderton Way was immediately closed after an inspection by council environmental health officers. Fining former owners Zubayer Chowdhury (34) and Mohammed Miah (37) at Oldham Magistrates Court, chair of the bench Paul Smithies said it was the worst case of pest infestation he had ever come across.

Officers inspected the store last June following an anonymous tip-off. They found mouse droppings throughout the store: on shelves, in boxes of food and even in the freezer.

Photographs showed overflowing bins filled with food waste. The chiller area, where raw meat was stored, had splashes of food up the walls, and the freezers were smelly and dirty - with ice so old it had turned green.

Officers saw packets of unwrapped raw chicken covered in mouse droppings.

The shop reopened on July 8 after a second visit by inspectors, but the defendants later closed and sold the business.

They were orfdered to pay £1,975 each in fines and costs.

Magistrate Mr Smithies said: “This is an horrendous offence.”


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