A grocer was fined £3,000 after an infestation of mice and food contaminated with droppings was discovered in his shop.

Kuliasingham Kiridaran pleaded guilty to five food hygiene offences at Croydon Magistrates’ Court on Friday December 11 after being prosecuted by the council’s food safety team.

Inspector’s visiting the BK Food City store on London Road in March discovered mouse droppings all over the store, food packets that had been ripped open by the rodents with the contents spilled onto the floor and shelves, and some of the food was contaminated with droppings, the court heard.

The premises were dirty and in poor condition and further checks revealed that staff did not have food hygiene training and there was no hot water available for hand washing, inspectors said.

The food safety team deemed the circumstances an imminent risk to health and the owner signed a voluntary closure agreement which shut the premises immediately.

He was allowed to reopen five days later after he cleaned up his store. Mr Kiridaran was fined £3,000 and ordered to pay £2,074 in costs.

He pleaded guilty to failure to protect food against contamination likely to render it unfit, failure to provide hot water for hand washing, failure to keep the premises clean, and in good repair and condition, failure to have a system for keeping food safe and failure to provide any staff training in food hygiene.

Councillor Gavin Barwell, cabinet member for community safety and cohesion, said: “Local food stores must adequately control pests and have systems in place for keeping food safe - failure to do so is a breach of food safety regulations.

“The vast majority of food businesses in the borough operate to the highest standards. But we want to ensure that all premises achieve these standards and will take action against anyone failing to do so.”