Picnic distribution center in Zaandam shut down over mice

The Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) has closed a Picnic distribution center in Zaandam due to mice. The online supermarket has confirmed that it concerns its distribution center and that it will be closed for several days for cleaning.

“Mice obviously do not belong in a distribution center, so it is very annoying that this has happened,” Picnic said in a reaction. Other Picnic distribution centers will take over the grocery delivery for the time being, and customers shouldn’t notice much of a difference.

Mice create “a rather unsanitary situation,” a spokesperson for the NVWA told ANP. Mice are incontinent, the spokesperson explained, which means that they urinate while walking. “That is a risk to food safety.”

Picnic must now get rid of the mice and make sure they can’t get back in. Afterward, the company will have to check all the products in the distribution center for holes in the packaging. Food without packaging or with permeable packaging will have to be thrown away. The rest, and the building itself, must be thoroughly cleaned.

After the cleaning process, the NVWA will visit again to see whether hygiene is in order. Only then can Picnic reopen the distribution center. “As it stands now, it appears to be a matter of days before the distribution center can open again,” a Picnic spokesperson told NU.nl.