A health inspection has escalated into a public hygiene concern for a Squirrel Hill bakery. According to CBS News Pittsburgh, Five Points Artisan Bakery on Wilkins Avenue has been hit with a consumer alert following disturbing findings, including a dead mouse and rodent droppings.
During an inspection on Tuesday, the Allegheny County Health Department found that the alert persisted until Thursday afternoon. The inspector encountered too many rodent droppings on several surfaces, including a slicer, which alarmingly included a slicer. Amidst the bakery's equipment and supplies, a "severely decomposed mouse corpse" behind a cooler condenser was found, casting a shadow over the establishment's hygiene practices, as detailed by CBS News Pittsburgh.
Further compounding the issue, Audacy detailed additional breaches of food safety were reported. Violations cited included contaminated utensils with old food remnants and repeated concerns such as improperly cleaned can openers and bins for dough proofing. In the hard-to-reach spaces of the bakery, rodent droppings were found tucked away—between walls, behind freezers, and even under a cooler, which is a clear violation of basic sanitation norms.
The Allegheny County Health Department categorizes two violations as "high risk" for their potential to cause foodborne illness or injury. Once Five Points Artisan Bakery rectifies the reported issues, updates on the revocation of the consumer alert will be visible on the health department's website.
