Sushi mice amid the sushi rice at Westfield Marion food court
A MOUSE has been photographed wandering among fresh sushi in one of Adelaide’s busiest shopping centre food courts.
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A CURIOUS mouse has caused a stir at Westfield Marion, after it was found scurrying around the refrigerated servery of a sushi takeaway shop.
The mouse was spotted eyeing off the fresh food in the glass cabinet of Dozo Japanese Food Express in the first-floor food court by a “shocked and horrified’ mother.
The woman, who did not want to be named, was stopping for lunch on July 17 with her three young daughters when she spotted the rodent next to fresh sushi in the shop’s food display area.
“I was shocked and horrified, I’m actually really quite grossed out by it,” she said.
“I thought I was in a dream. I actually thought I was dreaming.
“If there’s one, there could be more. My thought was how did it get into there in the first place – the glass cabinet has folding doors.”
The woman took photos of the rodent before alerting staff, who immediately removed all the food from the cabinet.
Owner Florence Zheng last week said her workers got a rude surprise when they saw the mouse poking its head up between the takeaway sushi packs.
“It was just shocking, just to see it right there in the fridge like that,” she said.
“Unfortunately we had to throw out all the food and also a mat underneath, and we then cleaned and sanitised everything. But that is just what you have to do.”
Ms Zheng said she believed the mouse likely came from a nearby construction area at the shopping centre and was able to get into the food court store at night as it has no front door.
Staff have now been instructed to double check everything and are cleaning twice as often.
“We just have to be cautious,” Ms Zheng said.
“We are working very hard with the council and the centre management to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
The woman who spotted the mouse reported it to Marion Council the morning after the incident.
Council communications manager Craig Clarke said an environmental health officer inspected the premises after receiving the complaint.
“The shop owner appeared horrified at the incident and had dumped all the food in the bain marie and sanitised the area before we arrived,” he said.
“Our officer inspected the outlet, reminded them of their responsibilities and, despite the reported incident, found they had the required rodent controls in place.”
Mr Clarke said shopping centre management had been notified but no further checks would be carried out other than regular food safety inspections, as it appeared to be an isolated incident.
A Westfield spokeswoman said the health and safety of customers was its “top priority”.
“As such we have diligent pest control plans and procedures in place,” she said.
“We’ve had pest control attend following the issue and have reviewed all food retailers where no other incidents were uncovered.
“All of our retailers are required to have their own pest control plans in place and we will continue to work with all retailers to ensure they are adhering to our pest control requirements.”
