Three branches of the Royal Supermarket chain and an eatery have recently been found to be infested with mice, in response to which the Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) has announced that it has ordered the three branches in the peninsula’s Rua de Francisco Xavier Pereira, Taipa’s Avenida Dr Sun Yat Sen and Coloane’s Seac Pai Van estate, as well as the “孫尚香” Chinese restaurant on Rua de Entre-Campos in San Kio district to suspend their business for deep cleaning and disinfection and to destroy all the live seafood and fresh food on their premises.
Chicken congee and seafood rice soup are the eatery’s signature dishes.
“In response to recent rumours circulating on social media platforms that mice had been found in a large supermarket chain in Macau, IAM officials were immediately dispatched to inspect all its branches, during which its three outlets at Ip Heng Building in Seac Pai Van, Treasure Garden on Avenida Dr Sun Yat Sen (孫逸仙博士大馬路) in Taipa and the basement of New China Plaza Building on Rua de Francisco Xavier Pereira (俾利喇街) were ordered to immediately suspend their business operations for rectification and destroy all live and fresh food products,” the bureau noted in a statement on Friday.
According to a 40-second clip posted on social media platforms on Thursday, a mouse is seen ripping open a packet of rice vermicelli on what appeared to be a fresh food shelf at a Royal Supermarket branch, with multiple comments pointing out that the outlet is located in Seac Pai Van.
The IAM statement pointed out the hygiene conditions at the three supermarkets were “mediocre” with no proper installation of mouse-proof facilities in their food processing area and signs of a mouse infestation in the store rooms, saying that “the enterprise’s mouse prevention and control measures were insufficient”.
While the three supermarket branches were ordered to suspend their business for rectification, the restaurant on Rua de Entre-Campos (田畔街) was also ordered to suspend its business due to a mouse infestation, with the removal of the eatery from Macau’s online food delivery platforms, according to a separate IAM statement.
Yesterday’s statement said that the bureau has been stepping up inspections of catering establishments and supermarkets in various districts, during which it was discovered that the environmental hygiene in the “孫尚香” restaurant was “unsatisfactory”, with signs of a mouse infestation found in its storage and dining areas. As in the three supermarket outlets, the restaurant was also confirmed by the IAM inspectors to have had inadequate mice prevention and control measures, resulting in a lack of properly installed mouse prevention facilities in the food processing area.
According to the two statements, the three supermarket outlets and the eatery have all been required to pass a reinspection before they would be allowed to resume business.
Both statements highlighted the responsibility of the food trade to draw up effective pest control plans, conduct regular inspections of pipes and other facilities and equipment, regularly clean and reduce the accumulation of debris on the premises, and properly store foodstuff with the aim of “effectively” preventing pests and mice from entering, hiding and reproducing there. The statements added that “prosecution would be initiated if a breach of the Food Safety Law is found” at the three supermarkets and the restaurant.
Royal Supermarket, eatery pledge professional cleaning & disinfection
Meanwhile, the supermarket chain issued on Friday afternoon a written apology, noting that it has hired a professional cleaning and disinfection company to carry out comprehensive cleaning and disinfection at the affected branches, and it also undertook to further optimise its management procedures and environmental hygiene to ensure that similar incidents would not recur: “We would like to apologise to everyone for the unpleasant shopping experience…We will take practical actions to ensure that our customers’ shopping environment is safe and hygienic”.
Public broadcaster TDM quoted the owner of the “孫尚香” (pronounced “Sun Seong Heong” in Cantonese) restaurant as saying that he had hired a professional for the mouse infestation and deep cleaning of the premises: “A mouse infestation is a headache for food establishments, and it is difficult to say that there won’t be this kind of problem during eight to 10 years of operation”. He also complained about the obvious increase in the number of mice in the district recently.
These handout photos provided by the Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) yesterday on Friday and yesterday shows IAM inspectors at a Royal Supermarket outlet and outside the “孫尚香” eatery investigating their mouse infestation and hygiene issues.
