A supermarket in Mitcham has been temporarily closed because of a “serious” mouse infestation.

The Iceland supermarket in Upper Green West was served with a hygiene emergency prohibition notice due to the scale of the mouse problem on Monday, March 27.

According to the notice, which is pinned outside the store, there is an “infestation of mice serious enough to result in the actual contamination of food, as granola and rice crispy squares have been gnawed.

“There is a significant risk of contamination due to mice droppings.

Wimbledon Times:

The hygiene emergency prohibition notice. Photo: Luna Moon via Facebook

“There is poor pest proofing.”

In a statement, a spokeswoman for Iceland said: “We aim for the highest standards in all our stores and sincerely apologise to our customers for the isolated incident which has required the closure of our Mitcham store, and for any inconvenience or concern this may have caused them.

“We have taken urgent action to thoroughly investigate the issue, and are now working hard both to deep clean the store and strengthen its rodent proofing to guard against any recurrence.”

It is not yet known when the supermarket will reopen, but the spokeswoman said Iceland would "endeavour to open our doors to customers as soon as possible."

Cabinet member for street cleanliness and parking at Merton Council, Councillor Ross Garrod, said: “We should all expect the highest food hygiene standards from businesses in our borough and we will come down hard on any business which falls short of those standards.

"We worked very hard with Iceland to advise them on the steps they should have taken to eliminate the mouse infestation but as they failed to implement measures to rid the store of the mice, we ordered them to close the Mitcham store until the infestation is cleared.”