A butcher in Lye was temporarily shut down after environmental health officers discovered evidence rats were in the shop, a court was told.
Your Local Butchers, in High Street, was hit with the closure order in March last year following a visit by Dudley Council.
As well as evidence of rat activity, environmental health officers reported several areas of the shop were dirty and equipment used for food preparation had not been properly cleaned.
They also found no hand drying materials available at the hand wash basin, food safety procedures not being implemented and insufficient staff training in food hygiene.
It was allowed to reopen shortly after when officers were satisfied the health risk had been removed. But its two directors appeared in court this week to admit hygiene offences on behalf of themselves and the company.
Zeeshan Shaukat, 43, and Nadeem Hussain, 47, were both fined £300 and ordered to each pay a £120 victim surcharge.
In addition, the company was fined £3,000 and ordered to pay court costs and a victim surcharge totalling an additional £2,959.75.
Councillor Phil Atkins, cabinet member for development and regulation, said:
“Finding evidence of rats in a food business is completely unacceptable and poses a significant risk to public health.
“I commend our environmental health officers, who acted swiftly and decisively to shut the premises down to protect the public until its owners could prove it was safe to reopen again.
“I hope this serves as a clear reminder to all food businesses that maintaining high standards of cleanliness and pest control is not optional—it’s the law.”
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