Countdown has ramped up its apology to customers a month after staff went public with their concerns about rats at a Dunedin supermarket.
The Countdown Dunedin South store has been closed since February 9 amid reports of rats running rampant at the supermarket and a Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) investigation.
Owner Woolworths is embroiled in a series of high-profile public pest problems, including a video of a mouse in a deli in Christchurch and reports of a pigeon roosting on food shelves in Auckland.
Woolworths previously apologised to customers for any "distress and inconvenience" caused by the rat issue but yesterday stepped up its language.
"What we have seen play out in the last couple of weeks is not acceptable to us or to our customers," Woolworths New Zealand director of stores Jason Stockill said in a statement.
He acknowledged improvements in pest management were needed in the company’s 194 stores across the country.
This included a review into how Woolworths worked with its pest control contractor, Rentokil.
However, a staff member, who declined to be named, said the response was far too late.
"It’s well and truly gone out the gate.
"They’ve got some hard roads to hoe before staff or customers feel they can trust them again.
"This story has got really big. I’ve heard that it’s been on the news in Australia."
The company also wanted to bring in changes to make sure staff were "confident in raising and escalating concerns about pest management", Mr Stockill said.
New Zealand Food Safety deputy director general Vincent Arbuckle said no rats were captured overnight on Thursday, so the total remained at 20 since the weekend.
"It is encouraging to see the number of overnight captures falling."
However, after Woolworths confirmed a rat was spotted on an in-store camera on Thursday, New Zealand Food Safety confirmed the 48-hour "clear air" period had not begun for the store.
If there are no sightings or captures of a rat today, the earliest the store can reopen is Monday.
A staff member approached the Otago Daily Times last month with accounts of a rat-infested store.
Concerns were raised store management was not taking the issue seriously at the time.
Then a photo, taken in November last year, was supplied to the ODT, which Woolworths confirmed showed a rat in its Countdown Dunedin South deli section.
After rat captures were reported and the store was closed for increased pest control efforts, several more photos emerged.
In one photo a rat appears to be trapped in an upturned shopping basket. In another rat droppings surround a mixing bowl in what appears to be the supermarket’s bakery.
