A new mouse video has emerged on Tuesday, showing supermarkets' rodent problems have spread from the South Island to the North.
An Auckland woman described to Newshub the shocking moment she found a mouse in a west Auckland Pak'nSave supermarket aisle while doing her shopping.
The Ranui resident said she shops at the Lincoln Rd supermarket once a week, and it's her local place to go to get her groceries.
The woman said she was disgusted when she noticed a mouse scurrying down one of the aisles at around 1pm on Tuesday.
"Me and my mate were just shopping, and then she pointed out the mouse and said 'Omg is that a mouse?' and that's when I noticed it was crawling along the aisle."
A video of the small grey mouse shows it timidly making its way down the aisle, beneath large bottles of shampoo.
"It had run down from the bakery and was making its way into the middle of the store in the frozen food aisle," she told Newshub.
"I got my phone out and filmed it because who wouldn't?
"In the moment I thought it was cute and I felt kind of bad for it but then I realised it was just disgusting," she said.
"It's gross that it was inside the store, just pretty disgusting."
She said when she went to find help there were hardly any staff in sight.
"We looked around because we didn't know what to do, but there were no staff members around other than the ones on checkout," she said.
"I had to walk far to find one of them and she went to get a box and I helped her trap it," she said.
"Then she just walked away with the mouse inside the box and went to show her other colleague."
The woman admits it has put her off returning to the store to do her grocery shopping.
"It sort of just puts me off going back, I think I'll shop at Fresh Choice now," she laughed.
New Zealand Food Safety deputy director-general Vincent Arbuckle told Newshub MPI are in contact with Foodstuffs North Island and have "requested information about this sighting".
"Rodents will find their way into sites from time to time, and that's why stores are required to have strong pest-management plans in place to manage any issues that arise," Arbuckle said.
Newshub contacted Pak'nSave's owner Foodstuffs, which said its store "has an excellent record of food safety and hygiene".
A spokesperson said the last pest management service was "provided and passed" on February 8, 2024.
"A lone mouse was sighted by a customer at Pak'nSave Lincoln Road in Auckland today," they said.
They said the incident had been reported and confirmed that the mouse was quickly caught.
"The store's pest control company have arrived at the store, all appropriate action will be promptly taken and additional measures put in place if required," they told Newshub.
"The health and safety of our customers is always our top priority. All Foodstuffs stores manage an ongoing Food Control Plan (FCP) and are regularly serviced by their appointed pest control service provider with reports generated."
This is the second mouse video to emerge this week, after one on Monday showing a mouse in a bowl of uncovered salad in the deli section of Christchurch's Eastgate Countdown.
Woolworths New Zealand director of stores Jason Stockill confirmed to Newshub a live mouse had been discovered in the salad section of the deli last Wednesday evening.
Also in the South Island, almost 20 rats have been caught at the South Dunedin Countdown in the past week.
The store remains closed to the public as pest control continues.
