A dozen catering establishments have been temporarily closed in Leuven over the past two weeks after mice were discovered on the premises by officers of the Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain (FAVV).
Leuven, a Flemish city to the east of Brussels, has been struggling with an unprecedented plague of mice since last summer. The rodents need no more than half a centimetre to infiltrate new spaces, and as many of the buildings in the city are old, it is easy to slip through the cracks. They have also increasingly infested restaurants, cafés and bars.
On Thursday last week, four establishments on the popular Martelarenplein and Grote Markt shut their doors immediately following such checks, FAVV spokesperson Hélène Bonte told The Brussels Times.
"The pest problem is not new; for several months now, businesses have been temporarily closed regularly due to the discovery of pests," she said. At the start of this year, over 30 catering establishments in Leuven indicated that they were battling with mice infestation; several were forced to shut down for weeks. Earlier this month, six businesses in Leuven were forced to close temporarily by the FAVV following standard checks
Consumer health at risk
The catering businesses which had to close their doors following routine checks as part of FAVV's control programme included La Vignette, De Klimop and La Royale on Martelarenplein and Bar Louis on the Grote Markt.
"When we impose a temporary closure, it is because the health of consumers is at risk," Bonte said. "For example, because we find (traces of) mice in areas where food is prepared, where (raw) food is kept or because packaging has been eaten, etc."
The owners of the affected catering establishments will now be given time to thoroughly clean their premises. "Cleaning the droppings is not enough, one must also ensure that the present mice are caught and that especially no new mice can enter, for example through cracks in the wall," Bonte explained.
Once that is done, they can contact the FAVV again for another check. If the result is favourable, the businesses can reopen. "Currently, we are dealing with about 10 cases in Leuven, but this figure fluctuates all the time, because other cases are closed or because we can reopen cases. So this can change from today to tomorrow."
While most of the catering businesses have been working with a firm to control pests for many years, several have argued that it is also up to the city government to better control the mice infestation.
The city administration said it will organise another information event soon and that it will sit down with key members of the hospitality industry as soon as possible to prevent more pests from spreading in the streets.
