The King Soopers in the Denver neighborhood of Montclair has a pest problem, according to a spokesperson for the Department of Public Health and Environment.
At the end of November, a resident filed a food safety complaint with the city. On Dec. 4, health department inspectors found rodent droppings at the grocery store in the storage area.
"A reinspection was conducted a few weeks later and our investigator observed that the violation had been corrected," explained Amber Campbell, a spokesperson for the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment.
"Just like restaurants and other food establishments, regular inspections of grocery stores are conducted twice a year, as well as any time a complaint is received. Anecdotally, it doesn't appear that we receive any more or less rodent related complaints at grocery stores than we do at any other type of facility."
Earlier this week, a resident filed yet another complaint, and inspectors returned to the store on Tuesday.
"They did find evidence of pests (rodent droppings) clustered primarily around existing traps and in corners," Campbell said. "They did not find any rodent droppings in the front customer area of the store. The manager indicated that the store does have an active pest control service in place."
While on the scene, the inspector found a broken drain opening beneath a wall in the back of the store and and told the manager that's how rodents may be entering the building.
The grocery store will have a couple of weeks to comply with the law and get rid of the rodents.
There is some good news for concerned customers: "It doesn't look like we've ever found rodent droppings in food or food products at this location, mainly on the ground," Campbell said.
We have reached out to a spokesperson for King Soopers for comment. We will update this story if we hear back.
