San Diego County health officials say they will conduct a follow-up inspection of the Chuck E. Cheese’s Grossmont Center location after “fresh and old droppings” from rats were found under storage racks and the children’s play structure area.
“The kids are crawling through there on their hands and knees and then after that going down to eat their pizza. So, they’re using their rat feces-covered hands to eat Chuck E. Cheese’s pizza,” concerned mother Colleen Adams told NBC 7 Friday.
She and friends went to the location in La Mesa on Aug. 21 with their children.
Adams agreed to help her friend’s 18-month-old son through the play area when she smelled urine and saw the rat feces. She took numerous pictures and reported the incident to the business’ manager.
Alexis Linn is with the public relations department for Chuck E. Cheese’s. She confirms rat droppings were found in the play area and says employees cleaned the mess right away.
“We sealed up a couple places near our pipes and since then we have had no issue with rats or droppings anywhere,” she explained.
Linn says there’s a larger rat problem with the shopping complex as a whole.
“[Grossmont Center] is an older shopping center. Multiple businesses have experienced rat problems,” she said.
NBC 7 spoke to a manager with the shopping center Friday, and he said the center had no comment.
Linn says the Aug. 21 incident was the first time something of this nature occurred at this location.
NBC 7 learned the Chuck E. Cheese’s location at Grossmont Center maintains an A rating with the county’s food inspection department. It has no major violations, but does have numerous minor violations dating back to March that involve vermin and maintaining facilities.
“We do mandate daily cleanings at our stores and I will tell you, you’d be shocked at the amount of stuff that can be accrued at a Chuck E. Cheese’s,” said Linn.
Adams says she is appalled by her experience.
She posted about it on an East County alert Facebook page and it’s been shared nearly 1.200 times as of Friday evening.
Health inspectors plan to visit the Chuck E. Cheese’s La Mesa location again next week.
