‘Rodent issues’ led to multiple complaints at a North Texas Kroger store

Denton health inspectors had to temporarily shut down a Kroger store due to multiple complaints of “rodent issues” at the location.

The Kroger Store at 500 W. University Drive in Denton was shut down on Tuesday but was able to reopen again on Wednesday morning, according to Jessica Rogers, a spokeswoman for the City of Denton.

“Our Chief Health Inspector has been actively working with Kroger to address the problem, including conducting inspections and working with the store management to approve the store’s plan of action,” Rogers said in an email statement.

Over the past few months, Denton city officials said they received multiple complaints about rodents at the location. The city health inspectors followed up on each of those complaints, according to Rogers.

After subsequent complaints and inspections the city’s chief health inspector and Kroger store management agreed that the store needed to be closed until management could resolve the rodent problem, Rogers said.

“Our inspectors identified mice and a Norway rat,” Rogers said. “The primary health risk was contamination of food stuffs with hair, feces, and urine.”

The store’s staff will be put on a modified and increased inspection schedule for the rest of this year and possibly next year, according to Rogers.

The company issued a statement saying it has “no tolerance for pests of any kind in our stores.”

“Our food safety and cleanliness standards are of utmost importance and we have an established, aggressive response in place,” spokeswoman April Martin said in the statement. “We worked closely with the city throughout the process. Also, our partnership with pest control specialists also helped eradicate and prevent any further activity. We made the decision to temporarily close our store to address these concerns.”

Signs were placed on the front doors of the store stating, “Loyal Customers. Our location will temporarily be closed for facility maintenance. Sorry for the inconvenience.” Another sign on the doors read, “Loyal customers. For prescription pick-ups, please use the walk-up window,” NBC 5 reported.

Martin said they apologized to customers for the inconvenience. During the temporary closure the store underwent repairs that were inspected and approved by the City of Denton, according to Martin.

This story was originally published September 5, 2018 at 2:36 PM.