Real Canadian Superstore discovers rodent control
The folks that run Canada’s largest grocery store chain – Loblaw Companies --are apparently just learning about pest control. They are also learning that consumers can take pictures with their cell phones and can actually use those phones to call local health types.
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The Calgary Herald reports that public complaints prompted health inspectors to visit the Westwinds location of the Real Canadian Superstore 17 times in just over a year before it was ordered closed Tuesday after the discovery of live mice, rodent feces and gnawed packaging.
Rick Holley, a microbiology professor in the University of Manitoba's department of food science, believes shoppers have every reason to be squeamish at the thought of mice scampering over produce or gnawing on potato chip bags.
"Mice are vectors for salmonella. They carry it and shed it not unlike chicken, cattle or hogs.”
Doug Powell, an associate professor of food safety at Kansas State University, said,
"People might think, 'What's the big deal about a little mouse poop?' But it's an indicator there could be a whole lot else going on.”
The incident comes weeks after a Loblaws store in Toronto -- part of the same company as the Superstore chain -- was shut down after a "heavy infestation"of mice and rats, including droppings on sandwich counters, was found.
Company spokeswoman Inge van den Berg said the two occurrences have prompted the store to revamp its pest control procedures.
http://barfblog.foodsafety.ksu.edu/admin/trackback/113417
Might have been a good idea to tell readers that the photo of the mouse in the cheese had nothing to do with the problem discussed in the article.
Cute, yes...but it appears to be a lab/pet mouse and a set up shot.
Unless of course, the store was being overrun by lab mice.
They also neglect to mention that the Calgary area has a very high number of deer mice who can carry Hantavirus, which is a potentially fatal disease.
Mice infestations here are consequently much more hazardous than they might initially seem, and hantavirus can be transmitted THROUGH THE AIR. Simply by inhaling the area around the urine, feces or saliva (yes, saliva!) of a deer mouse you are exposed to this deadly disease.
Look at what happened with the Peanut Corp. of America. They were shut down for the same reason.
Laura --
Although I completely agree that Hantavirus is a concern worth noting, and once you contract it you will only have a 50% chance of survival, I would just like to point out that it may not be worth panicking over. Deer mice are not born with the virus, so not all of them carry it, only those that have been exposed. In fact, the condition is so rare that you are just as likely to be struck by lightning as you are to catch Hantavirus. Less than 30 Canadians contract it per year, and as I said before, only approximately half of them are in a life-threatening situation.
Finally, Deer mice are field mice, and therefore are very unlikely to be found anywhere near a Superstore. What with their intense fear of all things human, their diet of seeds and grasses, and the competition from all of the "house mice" which would be likely to inhabit a Superstore (and which can grow to be nearly twice the size of an adult Deer mouse), it would not be a favourable environment for them. So while I respect your healthy wariness of both Deer mice and the Hantavirus, I would try to keep it as just that: a wariness, and not an outright fear.