Beaverton Bakery closed Tuesday after health inspectors found a rat infestation throughout the space.
The inspection of the bakery, founded in 1925, was triggered by an email complaint, John Burr, program manager at the Oregon Department of Agriculture, said. As a result of the inspection, the bakery voluntarily closed to address the problems. On Facebook, the bakery posted they had closed due to mechanical failure.
According to the inspection report, the investigation found “an active rodent infestation…in an upper storage area of the bakery and rodent activity (droppings, urine) was noted in all areas (cookie, back warehouse, main bakery processing, cake I, cake II, storage area above walk-in cooler, miscellaneous storage room upstairs).”
A contamination of ingredients, both stored and in-use, packaging materials and bakery cake boards was also found throughout the space, according to the report.
“We had a flood…and we have a really old building here, because of the water, it did draw rodents to our facility,” Beaverton Bakery president Carrie Ann Schubert said. “We have lots of pest control notes that can show we’ve been on top of this all along, but because the building is so old, there’s tons of exclusions, little areas where animals can get in.”
Schubert said the three day closure allowed the bakery to take care of the work, and go “above and beyond what the health department told [them] to clean.”
“We do expect to open tomorrow, but this building is very, very old,” Schubert said. “For the last 20 years, we’ve had pest control services here, don’t want you to think we’re negligent. But as you know, floods happens and when you’ve got an old building, this gives us the opportunity to seal this off and take care of any problems in the facility.”
Bruce Pokarney, director of communications at the Oregon Department of Agriculture said it’s not uncommon to occasionally find evidence of rodent activity in their licensed establishments.
“In this case, the level of activity, however, was significant enough to warrant a closure of the bakery…and that doesn’t happen very often,” Pokarney said.
The bakery requested a re-inspection midday Friday and hopes to reopen Saturday.
Beaverton Bakery first opened in 1925 by Charles Yeager. Charles Schubert bought the bakery in 1965 when it was a single building run by 10 employees on Southwest Broadway Street. Charles daughter, Carrie Ann, now runs the bakery.
12375 S.W. Broadway St, Beaverton, 503-646-7136, beavertonbakery.com
— Samantha Bakall
sbakall@oregonian.com
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