RI, MA EHS Pest Control Blog

(via United Press)
Note: In Britain they call potato chips “crisps”

Retail giant Tesco has apologized to a customer who claimed she found newborn mice in a multi-pack of crisps.

Liz Wray said she was shocked to see half a dozen pink mice emerge from multi-packs of crisps at a new Tesco store in Aston, Birmingham.

The mother of one said she was also horrified the store was not shut down straight away, but was still open several hours later as pest control staff arrived.

Tesco apologized for the "upsetting" discovery and said it was confident the incident was isolated.

A spokesman said: "This was clearly an upsetting discovery for our customer, for which we are very sorry.

"Pest control experts have been in the store over the weekend checking it from top to bottom and we're confident this was an isolated incident.

"The cleanliness of our stores is a priority for all our staff."

Ms Wray told the Birmingham Mail she was with a work colleague when they made the discovery.

"Suddenly these tiny pink things appeared from the multi-packs and were lying in front of us," she told the paper.

"They were repulsive and made me feel revolting. There were half a dozen of them crawling out of different holes in the crisps and we couldn't believe our eyes."

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA

Mexican Chile Seized in Rat-Infested Warehouse

LAS CRUCES - Imported Mexican chile was seized by U.S. marshals on Monday after inspectors allegedly found it being stored in a warehouse infested with rodents and bugs, according to the U.S. Attorney's office in New Mexico.

An inspection in November by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration uncovered "an active and widespread insect and rodent infestation in the food warehouse," according to documents filed in federal court.

Inspectors allegedly found rodent nests and evidence that mice had gnawed, defecated and urinated on the chile products after they had been shipped to the Duran & Sons Chile Products warehouse, about eight miles north of Hatch.

Warehouse owner Carl Duran had already marked the chile for destruction and was cooperating with the FDA at the time of the raid, which he told the Associated Press was "a shock."

Apart from the chile, however, Duran's warehouse was also allegedly home to "a live cat, live birds, apparent bird nesting, bird droppings, rodent nesting, rodent excreta pellets, animal feces, animal urine, lice and dead insects and insect larvae and moth-like insects," according to court documents.

The New Mexico Environment Department barred the warehouse's contents from being taken to market following the disastrous inspection, according to the complaint, which seeks to destroy the products seized.

The complaint does not state the total amount of products seized.

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, MA , Pest Control, RI