A Budgens next to Paddington station has been given the lowest food hygiene rating available after inspectors found mouse droppings on shelves.
Budgens at 171-173 Praed Street was told to clean up the droppings and thoroughly check the premises for holes. Inspectors did not find any evidence of food being gnawed.
Budgens on Praed Street said inspectors recently revisited the store and found no major issues raised during the initial inspection.
Westminster City Council inspectors visited the Paddington store on March 8 and gave it a zero food hygiene rating. They said the Budgens Quickstop required "urgent improvement" as well as changes to food handling procedures and cleanliness.
Inspectors also ordered the store to carry out a deep clean and found hand wash basins with no running hot water. They said the store had no diary or checking system in place.
They said the store had also failed to follow the "once opened, use within 3 days" shelf-life instructions on product labels. Inspectors said the business had transferred samosas from their original packing and into a chilled display and left them there until their use-by date, which is only meant for unopened products.
Business owner Nadarajah Selvakumar said the store sells 15 boxes of samosas per week and therefore there was no risk of the product remaining in the chiller longer than three days. He said the store has now agreed to label each box with the opening date.
He also said this issue was not raised during previous inspections. Council inspectors also found sweetcorn and chicken tikka rolls stored at 10.4 and 10.5 degrees Celsius when they should be stored at or below eight degrees.
According to the Food Standards Agency report, following a visit by Westminster City Council environmental health officers, the Praed Street store's hygienic food handling procedure needed improvement. This covers the preparation, cooking, reheating, cooling and storage of food.
The report said systems or checks should be in place to ensure that food being sold or served is safe to eat and that staff know about food safety. The store was told to make immediate changes.
Mr Selvakumar said Rentokil, a pest control company, inspected the property in June and detected no activity. He also shared a Rentokil report with the Local Democracy Reporting Service showing the steps the business is taking to improve its hygiene rating.
The business owner said the upstairs hot water tap has now been repaired. He also said there were two other functioning hot water taps on the premises during the inspection.
He said sandwiches are now stored in a chiller unit with a door, located at the back of the shop. He said temperature logs confirm that the storage temperature is consistently maintained below 8 degrees Celsius.
Mr Selvakumar said during the initial March inspection, which took place on a Saturday, the store manager was not present. The staff member accompanying inspectors was not fully aware of where the log and checking records were stored.
He said all records are now clearly accessible and up to date. He also said the lift pit, which was noted as needing a clean by council inspectors, has now been cleaned.
