Recently, some local supermarkets and a restaurant have been found to be infested with mice, and there are also allegations that the number of street mice has increased significantly as well, concerning which lawmaker-cum-civil engineer Leong Hong Sai has underlined the importance for enterprises to take up social responsibility regarding hygiene on their premises.
After the discovery of a mouse infestation at Royal Supermarket, a local supermarket chain with more than 30 outlets, the three outlets involved were ordered by the Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) on Friday to suspend business to “rectify” the situation. The chain then issued a written apology, saying that all the affected branches would undergo deep cleaning and thorough disinfection simultaneously, pledging that it would also further optimise its management procedures and hygiene to avoid such incidents from recurring again. Two days later, a Chinese restaurant, known as “Sun Seong Heong” in Cantonese, was also found to be infested with mice and, consequently, has been ordered by the bureau to suspend its business for deep cleaning and thorough disinfection.
Scores of residents have commented on the matter on social media, questioning the bureau about the adequacy of its anti-rodent measures: “This’s just the tip of the iceberg, the root cause is the seriousness of the mouse problem in Macau, mice can be seen everywhere;” “In fact, it’s the Municipal Affairs Bureau that has failed to do a good job on the mouse problem in Macau and has burdened the public with mouse infestation… mice are everywhere on the streets and slopes even after the bureau’s anti-rodent extermination campaign on private premises. Most of the mice found on private premises come from public places!” Another netizen said: “Macau has too many mice.” However, at the same time, some of the commentors said that the bureau’s order to suspend the business of the restaurant concerned was an “overkill”.
According to the IAM Environment Information Webpage, the bureau’s rodent prevention and control work includes baiting in 25 local districts twice a year or more for five weeks, counting the number of mice killed and identifying places with serious rodent infestation in order to further improve its mouse extermination campaign as well as analysing and studying the effectiveness of its disinfestation drive. The webpage noted that there are about 1,400 fixed bait spots in Macau.
Apparently, the bureau has never provided additional information on the estimated number of mice in Macau. However, according to online information, it was estimated in 1995 that there were one to two million mice in Macau that year, while the total number of mice destroyed by the authorities in Hong Kong between August 2023 and July 2024 amounted to about 106,100.
Speaking to local reporters on the sidelines of an event in Ian Hon Market Park on Sunday, Leong listed as the main reasons for the prevalence of mice the accumulation of garbage and the indiscriminate disposal of food waste, which makes it easy for the rodents to forage for food, thus encouraging their reproduction.
When asked about the widely perceived inadequacy of the bureau’s anti-rodent measures, Leong, however, acknowledged the bureau’s efforts: “The bureau was very prompt in ordering the relevant establishments to suspend their business for rectification,” but he also expressed concern about the insufficient frequency of hygiene inspections at food and retail outlets and their rodent prevention measures, urging the bureau to increase the deployment of its inspectors, while suggesting that the relevant penalties be raised in order to achieve the desired results of a “rodent-free” city by ensuring that rodents can’t escape, can’t hide and can’t find food.
In his opinion, given the government’s relatively sound financial situation this year, the government should allocate more resources to environmental hygiene and food safety and, at the same time, apart from enhancing public awareness of the need for rodent prevention and control measures, the government should also conduct regular training and hold seminars in collaboration with the relevant business sectors to, among other things, carry out regular inspections and proper maintenance of its various pest-control facilities.
Lawmaker-cum-civil engineer Leong Hong Sai speaks to the media on the sidelines of an event on Sunday in Iao Hon Market Park. – Photo: Yuki Lei
This video grab circulating online shows a mouse ripping open a packet of rice vermicelli on a fresh food shelf at a Royal Supermarket outlet recently.
