Toronto Public Health has closed a Queen Street food market where two mice were caught on camera snacking on some baked goods this past weekend.
The mice were spotted on Saturday munching on some treats on the display counter of the Meli Baklava and Chocolate Bar, located inside a food market near Queen and John streets.
Mohammad Valipour, who noticed the mice through the window, started recording the rodents on his cellphone on Saturday night.
In an interview with CTV News Toronto on Sunday, he called the incident “disgusting.”
“When I looked more I saw some mouse feces around the trays,” he said.
The building which houses the bakery is also home to a number of other food stalls and public health officials confirmed Monday afternoon that the whole building has been closed.
A public health employee was spotted at the bakery on Monday afternoon and confirmed to CTV News Toronto that the building is currently under inspection.
In an emailed statement sent to CTV News Toronto, Toronto Public Health said they respond to all food safety-related complaints within 24 hours.
“Appropriate actions will be taken based on the findings of an inspection. If a health hazard is identified, the establishment will be ordered closed and legal action taken. The premises will be required to remain closed until the health hazard is abated. Significant infractions will result in a Conditional Pass and a re-inspection will be done within 24 - 48 hours,” the statement read.
One of the owners of the bakery Julie Kyriakaki said Sunday that the area where the mice were spotted was strictly for displaying baklava and those baked goods are not served to customers.
“We cover everything. Those are strictly for display. We would never serve anything that's not fresh,” Kyriakaki told CTV News Toronto.
She added that she has set up mousetraps around the store because mice have been an ongoing issue at the building.
One of the vendors who spoke to CTV News Toronto said mice have not been a problem for the owners of other food stalls in the building.
The building’s property manager said the building sees regular pest inspections, which are done on an “as-needed” basis. He added that a notice will be sent to all food vendors warning them not leave food out overnight.
Meli Baklava and Chocolate Bar passed its last city health inspection on Feb. 6.
Kyriakaki said she plans to cover all food that is exposed for display going forward and will put more pressure on management to further address the rodent issue.
For more on city health inspections, visit DineSafe.
-With reports from CTV Toronto’s Miranda Anthistle and Natalie Johnson
