Food safety authorities in Oslo closed a popular McDonald’s restaurant in the city’s Majorstuen district after finding rat droppings in the kitchen and throughout the restaurant. The skeleton of a rat was later found as well.
Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) reported that some customers had seen rats running along the floor and so had employees, even though no such reports were voluntarily filed with the state food authority Mattilsynet.
An inspection by Mattilsynet led to the abrupt closure. McDonald’s officials were ordered to keep the restaurant at the corner of the heavily trafficked Kirkeveien and Valkyriegaten closed until they could document that the locale was free of rats. When inspectors returned to conduct another examination, however, they were not satisfied that the rat problem had been solved.
“Even more rat excrement was found, along with unsanitary conditions around a workbench in the kitchen and in the ventilation system on the second floor,” according to the Mattilsynet report. “A rat skeleton was also found.”
Rats remain a major problem in the Oslo area, where health authorities keep urging Norwegians to use garbage cans and not to throw food remains or fat into the public sewer system.
newsinenglish.no staff
