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CITY POLS VOW MIGHTY MOUSE RESPONSE IT’S WAR ON RESTAURANT RODENTS MIGHTY MOUSE CRACKDOWN

“I suspect this is a more widespread problem, and we’ve got to have a vigorous inspection system.”CITY COUNCILMANANDREW ERISTOFF

City officials yesterday vowed to wage a war on mice following The Post’s report of an infested Dunkin’ Donuts, saying more needs to be done to keep rodents out of restaurants.

002 . 0000.00While calling for doubling the number of restaurant inspections each year, City Councilman Walter McCaffrey (D-Queens) also found some humor in the situation.

“So that’s how they get the holes in the dough002 . 0000.00nuts,” he joked.

McCaffrey said the Dunkin’ Donuts mice under002 . 0002.08score the need for inspections twice a year – one of several requirements under a health inspection bill he’s co-sponsored in the council.

“The City of New York 002 . 0003.04does not follow the federal standard of two a year. We’re lucky if we follow a once-a-year inspection schedule,” he said.

The bill would also require the city to identify 002 . 0003.04restaurants that flunk health inspections in monthly lists. Restaurant and food stores also would be required to have their latest inspection posted by their front door.

002 . 0003.04″When you have repeated violations you have to be fined. And more importantly, the public should have the right to know about it,” McCaffrey said.

“Aside from the esthetic problem, the mouse is a potential carrier of disease. What might cause food poisoning in one person could be life or death for others.”

Mayor Giuliani said The Post’s report was “a disgusting horrible story and that shouldn’t happen.”

But the mayor said he wasn’t going to be too judgmental about the doughnut shop because of his own run-ins with furry creatures.

“Having had mice at the kitchen of Gracie Mansion, I can’t get too holier-than-thou about it. I’ve had mice there about four or five times and twice on the porch, rats went by,” the mayor said.

“The condition of life is that you have mice and rats and you do everything you can to control them. And get them down to a bare minimum, and they should obviously not be in the kitchen or eating places. At the same time, I don’t know of anyone that hasn’t had to deal with that in urban America – actually in rural America either.”

Dunkin’ Donuts sent inspectors to more than 30 of its stores after The Post reported on Wednesday that mice were feasting on doughnuts in the display window of a store on Fifth Avenue and 46th Street.

The stores are run by Riese Restaurants, which owns more than 100 eateries in the city, including franchises of Tad’s Steak House and Houlihan’s.

Councilman Andrew Eristoff (R-Manhattan) said there needs to be increased inspections.

“It shouldn’t take a newspaper expose to get someone to clean up their act,” 002 . 0000.00he said.

“I suspect this is a more widespread problem and we’ve got to have a vigorous inspection system.”

Councilman Sheldon Leffler (D-Queens) also was angry.

“It’s terrible that that could happen and there needs to be more vigorous enforcement to ensure that stores are clean and sanitary and in compliance with the health code – that mice running around in food establishments don’t happen,” he said.

018 . 0001.04Manhattan Borough President Virginia Fields called for stepped-up training for health inspectors.

“Given that the restaurant was recently inspected, this points to the need for inspectors to be more thorough and better trained in what to look for,” Fields said.

“New Yorkers demand and deserve to know that food is stored and prepared in a sanitary environment that complies with city law.”018 . 0011.04 -00001