Outlets closed as rats disturbed by demolition and building work in the city centre relocate

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Sydney’s construction boom is “stirring up rat populations” and driving them towards restaurants, according to council authorities and rat-catchers.

Two inner-city outlets have voluntarily closed in the past two weeks after rodent sightings, and experts say projects such as Sydney’s new light rail are driving the creatures into shops.

A pack of five rats was spotted in the Broadway store of Portuguese chicken chain Oporto last week and, on Thursday, a single large rat was filmed in the Westfield Sydney food court outlet of Taiwanese dumpling chain Din Tai Fung.

Geoff Milton, a Sydney rat-catcher with 35 years’ experience, said infrastructure projects were agitating the rats.

“The call-outs in the city have doubled over the last two years,” he told Guardian Australia. “All the building work that’s going on in there. Digging up the roads and knocking buildings down. It’s a lot to do with infrastructure of the city.”

Both the City of Sydney and the owners of Oporto agreed.

“An unprecedented number of major demolition and construction works have been occurring throughout the CBD, stirring up rat populations and leading to increased rat movements,” a spokeswoman for the City of Sydney said.

The company that owns Oporto, Craveable Brands, told the ABC “the vermin appear to have been dislocated by external construction activity in the Broadway area”.

Milton, who is the general manager of M&M Pest Control, added that rats were “incontinent” and thus posed a health risk.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A shot from a video posted to Facebook of rats in the Oporto restaurant. Photograph: Vijay Kumar/Facebook

“The big thing with rats is that they are incontinent. They pee and wee on the run,” he said. “They’re not like a dog where they just go have a big pee … they are dropping their urine and faeces on the run. That could be on food and everything.

“There’s a lot of new restaurants opening, new cafes. They throw all their rubbish out in the lane, and it’s just food from them. It’s easily accessible food.”

Both the Broadway Oporto and the Westfield Din Tai Fung voluntarily closed after the rat sightings and said they maintained high standards of hygiene.

On social media, customers reacted with horror and many drew comparisons to Remy, the protagonist of the 2007 animated film Ratatouille, where a rat becomes a chef.

A statement from Craveable Brands provided to the ABC said the rat presence was “unrelated to the store’s sanitation standards” and they had sealed the ventilation hole to prevent pests coming in.

“The store has undergone a full decontamination and industrial cleaning process to ensure all surfaces are hygienic and safe,” it said. “The store will remain closed and clean until both Oporto and health inspectors are satisfied that vermin cannot re-enter the Broadway store from outside.”

On Thursday, Din Tai Fung said it “immediately activated pest control specialists” to disinfect and clean the affected food court outlet.

Both businesses are also working with health inspectors.

“We are conducting thorough investigations and improving measures in pest defence during post-operations hours,” Din Tai Fung said on its Facebook page. “Food safety is of utmost importance to us and we would like to state our unwavering commitment to this.”

The City of Sydney said it would ensure both businesses met health standards before they reopened.

“It is the responsibility of individual food businesses and shopping centre management to eradicate vermin and prevent their entry into food premises,” a spokeswoman said. “City environmental health officers regularly inspect venues to ensure these responsibilities are being fulfilled, and can issue fines or order venues to stop serving food if they fail to comply.

“Unfortunately, rat activity can’t be completely eradicated and there will always be some public areas that require further baiting, particularly where food and waste are discarded by the public.”

The City of Sydney installs and monitors rat-baiting stations in public places, and can place additional baits depending on the level of complaints.