Photo: RNZ / Nathan Mckinnon
Woolworths has apologised to customers after pest sightings which have kept one of its store closed and raised questions about food safety at others.
Woolworths Dunedin South shut its doors last week and remains closed after rats were spotted running through the aisles - more than 20 rodents have since been caught at the supermarket.
A mouse was also reported to have been in a Christchurch store's salad bar and a complaint was made about birds at its Grey Lynn store in Auckland.
In a statement, Woolworths NZ director of stores Jason Stockill acknowledged there had been significant interest in reports of pests at Countdown stores.
"We take food safety and pest control seriously and apologise to our customers for the distress or inconvenience these reports may have caused.
"Pests are a common challenge in food environments, especially in the warm summer months. While it is normal for them to attempt to enter food premises, it's our responsibility to do everything possible to keep them out and remove them if they do enter."
Supported by its pest management contractors, Rentokil, and NZ Food Safety, Woolworths had pest management plans in place at each of its 194 stores in New Zealand, Stockill said.
"However, recent events have highlighted that there are improvements we can make to ensure our processes and procedures are followed. What we have seen play out in the last couple of weeks is not acceptable to us or to our customers."
Woolworths had taken action to ensure its pest management plan was performing as it should be, Stockill said.
This included issuing a food safety alert to teams, with a senior leadership team due to follow up at all stores in-person, reviewing how the supermarket works with Rentokil, and reviewing its internal escalation processes.
Countdown Dunedin South still shut
South Dunedin Countdown with a closure sign appearing on 12 February, 2024. Photo: RNZ / Tess Brunton
Meanwhile, New Zealand Food Safety (NZFS) said the Woolworths supermarket at the centre of a rodent infestation would remain closed until the agency and the company were satisfied pest-control measures had worked.
Countdown Dunedin South shut its doors last week.
Woolworths New Zealand director Pieter de Wet told Checkpoint no rodents had been caught in the last 24 hours and the store, all going well, was expected to reopen on Monday. If not Monday, it would be Tuesday.
Woolworths had lost at least a couple hundred thousand dollars with the stores closure, he said.
Some customers had gone to other Woolworths stores in the city, while others had gone to competing businesses.
NZFS deputy director-general Vincent Arbuckle said the last rat caught was on Tuesday, but there had been "a few sightings" of the rodents since then.
Twenty rats have been caught since the weekend.
Arbuckle said to help guide the decision on when to reopen, it had been agreed a 48-hour rat free period had to be observed before the doors swung open.
"This 48-hour period will start once we have evidence that there has been no rodent activity for 24 hours."
Woolworths was working across a number of fronts to deal with the issue, including with an external contractor from Rentokil, Arbuckle said.
"We continue our investigation to establish the causes and scale of the problem so it can be prevented from recurring. The details of any necessary process changes will form part of that investigation," he said.
"We will continue to monitor the store after it opens to ensure food safety risks are being effectively manage."
A review of Woolworths' pest control and maintenance practices in its New Zealand operation would be undertaken by a third-party verifier appointed under the Food Act 2014.
"People rightly expect the highest levels of hygiene at supermarkets and we all know instinctively that rats and mice should not be around food," Arbuckle said.
"The problem is that rodents can carry diseases and contaminate foods and surfaces. For example, they can spread disease-causing organisms like Salmonella."
A video reportedly showed a mouse running across uncovered salad at Eastgate Countdown in Christchurch. Photo: Reddit / screenshot
Complaint about birds in Grey Lynn supermarket
Meanwhile, Arbuckle said NZFS had received a complaint related to birds at Woolworths Grey Lynn in Auckland.
"As with all complaints received, NZFS Food Compliance Officers will work with the food business to determine the problem. If there is a problem, the food business is supported to make changes.
"If the food business does not put in place necessary corrective actions, NZFS can use enforcement tools to correct the situation. Different tools can be used to reflect the situation and can include closure of a food business, preventing the sale of food, requiring improvements to a food business and prosecution."
Pests such as birds, including pigeons, could be carriers of bugs/germs (such as E.coli or Salmonella) which could make people sick, Arbuckle said.
"Pests can also contaminate our food with foreign matter such as hair, fur, droppings/urine, eggs and dead bodies," he said.
Text reportedly warned staff against speaking to media
Adding to its woes, Woolworths was also in hot water over a text sent to workers as the pest problem first came to light in Dunedin.
The Otago Daily Times has reported staff received a text on 24 January advising a media release was going out the following day and warning them not to speak to media or risk losing their jobs.
"Hi guys,
"There is a media release tomorrow regarding our current situation within the store.
"Anyone who speaks to them runs the risk of loosing [sic] their job, your answer, if any will be 'no comment'."
First Union organiser for retail and food Ross Lampert said the wording of the text was inappropriate.
"You know, if somebody was going to send out that text they should have been less blunt ... and maybe just not sent it at all."
Staff were aware of Woolworths' media policy and that speaking to reporters without approval could result in disciplinary action, Lampert said.
Instead of taking the tone it did, the message could have offered staff avenues to raise concerns about the pest problem internally, he said.
Speaking to Checkpoint, de Wet said Woolworths had apologised for the text and agreed it was inappropriate.
Staff would "absolutely not" be sacked if they spoke to media about the infestation, he said.
Woolworths said it did have a media policy, which was that only approved spokespeople should comment to the media.
"If any of our team wish to raise issues, we have a number of ways in which they can do this including an anonymous process.
"This text wasn't something that anyone was instructed to say. We have reassured our store team that we are focused on fixing the issue."
Customer refunded for deli purchase
Woolworths had managed to contact one of the customers who made a purchase from Countdown Eastgate's deli after a mouse was found scurrying in the cabinet.
Two bowls, contaminated by the mouse, were removed from the cabinet by staff but the rest of the food was left for sale.
De Wet said that was unacceptable and all food should have been removed from the cabinet.
Staff at the store had been retrained following the incident, he said.
He said they had "made good" with the customer they were able to contact and apologised.
The customer was issued a full refund of their deli purchase, de Wet said.
He was hoping the other customer would get in touch.