STORY: Leicester bakery closes after rat jumps at inspectors

A rat jumped out at environmental health officers while they were inspecting Melton Bakery in Leicester, prompting them to immediately shut it down.

An anonymous tip-off prompted the inspection by Leicester City Council. Upon arriving on site they found rat droppings, other dirt and debris, and food that had been gnawed by rodents.

As a result they deemed it an imminent risk to public health and closed it down “until significant steps had been taken improve it”.

The inspection was carried out on Monday morning, and the council went to Leicester Magistrates' Court yesterday (Thursday) to get the order approved and seek more than £1,600 in costs from business director Yusef Kassam Meman.

Mr Meman was invited to attend the hearing but declined.

Council food safety officer Adele Lee told the court: “We moved some bread baskets and a live rat jumped out, scuttled past me and ran under some shelving.”

The shelving and the floor were very dirty, she added, and rat droppings were found on an electric box above a microwave and on the dough proofer.

Officers were unable to move the heavy baking oven, but believed there was more faeces under it.

They went into a store room where "the smell of rat urine was quite strong", and found urine stains on the floor.

There were also chewed bags of cake mix and powered sugar.

Ms Lee told magistrates: “We explained everything to the director. He didn’t think he had a rat issue but we showed him everything we found.”

She added that she visited the bakery again on Thursday to see what progress had been made.

She said: "The cleaning aspect was very poor. There were still droppings in the back storage area. There were smear marks on the walls.”

She also went outside to the back of the bakery and saw several rats.

Magistrates upheld the closure order and ordered the bakery to pay the council’s costs in full.