The Midnight Kitchen reopened on Monday after being closed for nearly two months. The pay-what-you-can vegan food collective initially closed last November after an incident when the kitchen and storage area were vandalized. The kitchen was expected to resume its operations within the first two weeks of this semester, but a rodent infestation in the Brown building forced it to postpone th reopening until Monday.

“This is not the first time we’ve had issues [with] mice in the entire building,” said Diego, a volunteer at the kitchen who declined to provide his last name. “SSMU [Students’ Society of McGill University] and Midnight Kitchen […] have done everything to ensure that our kitchen is protected from any potential hazard [….] They’ve fumigated the kitchen [and] bought new bins that are more resistant to rodents.” 

Going forward, Grace, another volunteer at the kitchen who declined to provide a last name, explained that operations should currently be running as planned, especially after the renewal of the kitchen’s Ministère de l’Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l’Alimentation du Québec (MAPAQ) permits had been renewed, which allow the kitchen to store and distribute food.  

“We have two new MAPAQ certified-for-life staff members,” Grace said.

SSMU Vice-President Clubs and Services Stefan Fong added that SSMU has also taken measures to counter the rodent infestation. 

“We haven’t been involved in the reopening itself, but we helped [the Midnight Kitchen] clean their space and do their MAPAQ training,” Fong said. “We now have a pest control technician who covers all the McGill buildings. We submit reports to him via a form we’ve created for tenants to document sightings.”