Mice in shed fear led to egg farm's closure

LOCAL eggs were taken off shop shelves because of concerns that mice had access to a temporary packing shed, it emerged yesterday.

Martin Freeman, 73, who has recently sold Castel Farm Eggs, although the transaction will not go through until September, said the decision had been made to close the business because he and the new owner had concerns about quality. He said mice, known carriers of salmonella, had access to the eggs – although he confirmed that no CFE eggs had tested positive for the bacterium.

'Environmental Health were not too happy about the way we were packing and the fact mice had access,' he said. 'Mice are horrendous carriers of salmonella and if they can get into the packing area, they can get onto the shelves where the eggs are. All our eggs were 100% clear of salmonella, which is why it's perfectly fine for people to buy them. But the fact that there was salmonella on the premises was enough to make us worry about it.

'Despite all the vaccinations, we felt the right thing to do was to tell the supermarkets and leave the decision up to them.'

The business suffered £100,000-worth of damage when its packing shed burnt down two months ago and another shed already on the farm had been used to package the eggs since.