Asda has been fined £300,000 after inspectors found dead mice and flies at a depot that distributes food to online shoppers in London and Essex.

Asda pleaded guilty to three breaches of food safety regulations after an inspection found mouse droppings on shelves and gnawed cereal and sugar packets.

They also found fly pupae shells and rotting coriander in home delivery trays during the visit to the site in Enfield, north London, in May 2016. Asda was also ordered to pay costs of £4,844 to Enfield Council.

​Enfield councillor Daniel Anderson, said: "It beggars belief that a national retailer would allow food to be stored in an environment where rodents are running riot.

"It is simply unacceptable for customers to be exposed to the potential risk of harm because a company cannot get its house in order and store foodstuff in a safe and hygienic manner.

"I am therefore pleased that magistrates have taken a tough stance and issued a heavy penalty.

Least ethical supermarkets Show all 11 1 /11 Least ethical supermarkets Least ethical supermarkets 11) The Co-operative With an 11.0 rating, the Co-op comes out as the most ethical supermarket Rex Least ethical supermarkets 10) M&S At 10, Marks and Spencer is relatively high Rex Least ethical supermarkets 9) Ocado Delivery service Ocado's motto is "quality food that doesn't cost the earth" Least ethical supermarkets 8) Waitrose Waitrose was the 4th most ethical on the list Least ethical supermarkets 7) Aldi Aldi surprisingly beat some of its up-market rivals Least ethical supermarkets 6) Sainsburys Sainsburys received a score of 9 for environmental ethics Rex Least ethical supermarkets 5) Morrisons Morrisons is the 5th least ethical supermarket in Britian AP Least ethical supermarkets 4) Tesco was the 4th least ethical, with an environmental score of 7 Least ethical supermarkets 3) Iceland Iceland was the third least ethical Least ethical supermarkets 2) Lidl Lidl was Britain's second most unethical supermarket for its impact on the environment and its reputation for throwing away unused food. Least ethical supermarkets 1) Asda Asda is the least ethical, Ethical Consumer added: "In most cases your local independent grocery or wholefood shop will be the most ethical place to shop."

"Hopefully it will send out a strong message to all retailers that we will not tolerate them being less than properly vigilant and ensuring their staff abide by their own stated hygiene policies to protect the health and wellbeing of their customers."

An Asda spokesman said: "The conditions found at our Enfield home shopping centre in May 2016 were completely unacceptable and we are deeply sorry that on this occasion the strict processes we have in place failed at a local level.