All Woolworths stores on look-out for rodents, birds or insects

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Woolworths has issued an internal memo instructing staff to report any in-store sightings or evidence of rodents, birds or insects to their duty manager.

The document leaked to RNZ stated cleanliness and pest control review would be carried out next week.

It comes after rodents were found at two Woolworths stores in recent weeks – as well as one Pak’n Save store.

At least 24 rats have been caught at Dunedin South Countdown over the past week.

Meanwhile, a mouse was seen scurrying through the deli cabinet at Eastgate Countdown.

The Dunedin store remains closed until there was a 48-hour period with no rodents captured.

Individual store teams and mangers were required to read and sign the memo as being understood and actioned by Tuesday.

The memo required the duty manager to enter details in a “pest sighting register” as soon as as a report was made.

The mouse found in the deli cabinet at Eastgate Countdown.
Photo: Reddit / screenshot

The manager would then be required to log a job with Rentokil.

“They will also review the surrounding areas for immediate cleaning opportunities,” it said.

The duty manager was then required to escalate the issue to store manager.

The memo said food debris, cardboard and general rubbish created places for pests to nest and increased the risk of pest activity.

Staff were asked to check “high risk areas” daily.

These included bulk food storage and bins, grocery, sugar, flour, prop bread, pasta, pet food and cereal sections.

“Look under bins on shop floor for dropped food.”

Staff were also asked to look for bakery flour and ingredient residue on floors.

“All bins should be enclosed and have lids and external doors to should be kept closed as much as possible.”

The memo asked cleaning and rosters to be followed “as required in the food safety manuals”.

In a statement, a Woolworths New Zealand spokesperson said: “We issue these types of memos regularly to our teams across the country and in light of recent events we felt it important to remind everyone of our practices and procedures when dealing with pests.

“We have over 20,000 incredible team members across Aotearoa who work hard in a busy environment, so the training memo is an opportunity to remind them of Woolworths policies and we are happy that teams received it and have read it.”