A Chinese takeaway was shut after health inspectors found rat droppings on the premises.
Environmental health officers visited Yumchi, in Braunstone Gate, West End, Leicester, on Tuesday to check on its hygiene standards.
They discovered a hole in the floor where a rat had burrowed up through soil and tiles.
They also found rat droppings around the kitchen, including some close to a ladle and some underneath a wok.
The takeaway was immediately closed but allowed to re-open the following day when inspectors visited it again and found it no longer posed a risk to people's health.
Magistrates in Leicester yesterday upheld the inspectors' decision to close Yumchi.
They were shown photographs of droppings on the floor of the premises and given a report with details of the diseases rodents can spread, such as salmonella, listeria, Weils disease and E coli.
Magistrates were told that the visit was a follow-up to an inspection in November, when environmental health officers found "poor hygiene conditions".
The visit was also prompted by a complaint made by a member of the public on January 11.
Caroline Gutteridge, representing the city council, said: "On January 18, food safety officers visited the premises and they found evidence of rat activity and were satisfied there was an imminent risk of injury to health.
"They returned the next day and were satisfied there was no longer a risk to health, and the premises have now been re-opened."
The magistrates' signing off of the closure means the restaurant's owners cannot sue the council for lost business.
Magistrates ordered the restaurant to pay the council's costs of £726.
Speaking outside court, health inspector Elizabeth Johnson said: "When we went into Yumchi we found rats had burrowed up through an internal drain.
"It looked like a mole hill on the floor where soil had been pushed up.
"I was concerned no-one in the business had addressed it."
She said it was not clear how many rodents had been in the building, but that rats, unlike mice, tend to forage for food and then leave, whereas mice tend to set up home indoors, leading to infestations.
Yumchi's owner Donovan Borah was not at yesterday's hearing.
But he told the Leicester Mercury afterwards: "In November, they came and inspected and said hygiene levels were poor, but after that hygiene had improved.
"Three further inspections were held and the standards were found to be high.
"There was no rat activity prior to the visit on Tuesday. I think the rat had burrowed up earlier the same day."作者: Dingdingcat 时间: 2011-1-21 11:47