The fast food giant has been ordered to pay almost half a million pounds for breaking food hygiene laws at its Leytonstone branch, reports Josh Mellor, Local Democracy Reporter
Fast-food giant McDonald’s has been fined nearly half a million pounds after a woman found a mouse dropping in a cheeseburger wrapper from its Leytonstone branch.
Lisa Honeycomb bought the burger from the drive-through at McDonald’s Leytonstone on 7th October in 2021 and found the dropping halfway through eating it.
She complained to Waltham Forest Council, who sent staff to inspect the restaurant the following week. They discovered an ongoing rodent infestation, which included droppings in the food preparation area and a “decomposing” mouse on a mop head.
The food hygiene inspectors ordered the 24-hour branch to close on 15th October, citing an “imminent risk to health”.
Today at Thames Magistrates’ Court, the fast food giant was ordered to pay £475,000 for violating food hygiene laws, as well as £22,000 to cover the council’s legal costs.
District Judge Susan Holdham said: “McDonald’s is a very reputable company. When customers go to McDonald’s, they expect and have the right to expect the highest standards in food hygiene. This is not some backstreet burger or kebab bar – children go to McDonald’s as a treat.
“The premises was dirty, this was built-up grease and dirt caused by non-existent or ineffective cleaning over long periods of time.”
Judge Holdham questioned why neither the branch’s staff or the company’s third-party pest control company Ecolab had previously reported seeing droppings or dead mice.
The court heard that American food safety corporation Ecolab had a contract to inspect the Leytonstone branch for pests twice a month but had “missed” obvious signs like a “mummified” mouse on top of a fryer.
The judge said it was also “very serious” that Ecolab could not explain why its most recent visit before the branch was shut down, carried out at 6am on 20th September, lasted for only half an hour.
However, she described the infestation as “a failing on a local level” and noted that McDonald’s otherwise has a “good” food safety record. Despite directly managing about 166 restaurants in the United Kingdom, the company only has one previous conviction for a hygiene issue in 2012.
Ian Thomas, representing McDonald’s, said the hygiene failure caused “great consternation” at the company and is now used as a training exercise. He added that the company’s chief operations officer Gareth Pearson had personally come to court to “understand what happened”.
Following the hearing, a spokesperson for McDonald’s said the company apologises “unreservedly” for the hygiene incident and any upset caused.
They added: “We are committed to the highest standards of health, safety, quality and hygiene. In this instance, we fell short of the standards we set ourselves across all our restaurants.
“While we have extensive food safety systems in place, unfortunately these were not adequately implemented at this restaurant on this occasion.
“Following the incident, a full review of policy and procedures was undertaken at both a local and national level to ensure an issue of this nature does not occur again.”
Waltham Forest Council’s cabinet member for community safety Khevyn Limbajee, said “We are grateful for the quick thinking of the customer in this case for reporting the matter to the council for investigation.
“There was a significant risk posed to the health of residents and visitors to Waltham Forest and, as such, the council had no option but to take formal action in this case.”
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