Story By: Bartosz Staszewski, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
Video Credit: CEN/Ola Swiatek
This is the moment a shocked customer finds baby rodents among dried fruit and nuts on a supermarket shelf after almost mistaking their droppings for a tasty snack.
Ola Swiatek grabbed her smartphone to film the scene at a branch of the Biedronka supermarket chain in the village of Pecice near the Polish capital city of Warsaw.
The footage shows at least two baby rodents – described by local media as rats – inside a box containing packets of dried fruit, some of which have spilled open.
Ola later shared the clip on social media where she revealed she had nearly mistaken droppings from the rodents for a tasty snack.
She said: “Going shopping today I thought that I’d grab some pumpkin seeds for a snack, but instead of seeds it was something … I don’t know what to call it.”
Ola claimed she had previously complained to the store after spotting mould growing on its fruit and vegetables and out-of-date food on sale.
She added: “The answer has always been the same – we’ll pay special attention, we’ll report it to the store manager. There have actually been improvements but only for a short time.”
Biedronka is the largest discount supermarket chain in Poland with more than 2,800 stores. It is owned by the Portuguese company Jeronimo Martins.
Justyna Rysiak, a spokeswoman for Jeronimo Martins in Poland, said the shelves had been cleared and a pest control firm brought in as soon as the incident was reported.
She said: “But we are sorry rodents have appeared despite these actions. Of course, we’ve made employees sensitive to the need to monitor the store.
“If any customer notices a similar situation in any of our stores, they can report it to the manager or our Customer Service Office. We’ll then be able to react immediately, as happened in this case.”
Netizen ‘Weronika Szablewska’ commented: “Oh, that’s nice – finally they have food for my snakes!”, while ‘Dominika Kowalczyk’ added: “Are they on sale? I hope they’ll be still available in other Biedronka stores – I’d buy them all!”
