Supermarket plagued with rats set to close for 48 hours
By reporter Hamish McNeilly:
A Dunedin supermarket that has been plagued with rats is set to close for 48 hours.
Staff and the union of Countdown Dunedin South store were told on Friday afternoon.
Woolworths New Zealand, which operates the store, confirmed the recent capture of four more rodents has forced the store to close.
Woolworths New Zealand director of stores Jason Stockill said: "Our local community will be aware that we’ve been working to address a rodent issue at Countdown Dunedin South for the last couple of months."
Food safety was the company’s “absolute priority”, with the supermarket giant working closely with the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI), and pest control contractor Rentokil.
“We believed we had addressed the issue, as there had been no evidence of rodent activity since January 28.
Unfortunately we have caught four rodents over the last few days so it is clear we have more work to do.”
NZ Food Safety and Rentokil confirmed the rodents were not nesting in the store, but appeared to be coming in from outside.
The Dunedin City Council was also involved in surveying neighbouring areas, in what the supermarket chain called “a coordinated response”.
“Having a safe and hygienic store is incredibly important to us and we would like to apologise to our customers for any distress and inconvenience this update causes,” Stockill said.
“We will reopen when we are confident these additional measures have been implemented. We anticipate this will be on Monday morning.”
Live Q&A: Garden maintenance with Crewcut
This Wednesday, we're having another Neighbourly Q&A session. This time with John Bracewell from Crewcut.
John Bracewell, former Black Caps coach turned Franchisee Development Manager and currently the face of Crewcut’s #Movember campaign, knows a thing or two about keeping the grass looking sharp—whether it’s on a cricket pitch or in your backyard!
As a seasoned Crewcut franchisee, John is excited to answer your lawn and gardening questions. After years of perfecting the greens on the field, he's ready to share tips on how to knock your garden out of the park. Let's just say he’s as passionate about lush lawns as he is about a good game of cricket!
John is happy to answer questions about lawn mowing, tree/hedge trimming, tidying your garden, ride on mowing, you name it! He'll be online on Wednesday, 27th of November to answer them all.
Share your question below now ⬇️
Poll: When should the tree go up? 🎄
From what we've heard, some Christmas trees are already being assembled and decorated.
What are your thoughts on the best time to get your Christmas tree up?
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4.6% Second half of November
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43.5% 1st December
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17.4% A week before Christmas
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33.3% Whenever you wish
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1.1% Other - I'll share below
What's your favourite tomato recipe?
Kia ora neighbours. We know your tomato plants are still growing, but we're looking ahead to the harvest already! If you've got a family recipe for tomatoes, we'd love to see it and maybe publish it in our magazine to share with our readers. Send your recipe to mailbox@nzgardener.co.nz, and if we use it in the mag, you will receive a free copy of our February 2025 issue.
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