Woolworths has been hauled before the courts and admitted failing to control its Dunedin store’s rat infestation.
In September New Zealand Food Safety deputy director-general Vincent Arbuckle said the government had concluded the investigations and New Zealand Food Safety laid a charge against Woolworths New Zealand Limited under the Food Act 2014.
The charge related to a failure to ensure a significant rodent infestation was promptly identified and escalated in accordance with its food control plan – this charge carries a maximum fine of $200,000.
Today, Woolworths admitted the charge through its lawyer, who noted the facts of the case were still not entirely agreed upon.
Judge David Robinson said the case had been “hanging around too long” and the facts needed to be agreed before sentencing on March 27.
The business was closed for 18 days in February last year following numerous sightings and captures of rodents in the Woolworths Dunedin South (formerly Countdown).
Twenty-three rats were caught while it was closed.
There was a report of “a small number of rat captures”’ at the store in April, but the Ministry for Primary Industries was satisfied with the investigation and the business was not closed.
In response to an Official Information Act request last year, an MPI spokesman said six South Island supermarkets other than Dunedin South Woolworths had been investigated for rodent activity in the past five years — and ‘‘rodent infestations’’ had been identified at three of them.