Australian Domino's store shuts after 'absolutely disgusting' pictures emerge

A mop sits in rancid water while mouldy cheese sits inside the fridge. Photos / Supplied

Sickening pictures taken from a disgruntled Domino's employee have sparked disgust from hundreds of Australian pizza-lovers and prompted a store's closure.

Widely-circulated disturbing images from the Lismore store in northeastern New South Wales show a huge block of mouldy cheese sitting in a fridge, filthy serving buffets strewn with used ingredients, pale prawns sitting in water and a mop sitting in rancid water, reports news.com.au.

They were uploaded on to Facebook by Isaac Wilson — a former employee at the store who claims he was recently forced out — prompting hundreds of comments from locals who said the conditions were "absolutely disgusting" and "yuck".

A hygiene inspection took place shortly after the pictures were posted online. Photos / Supplied

"Hey ladies & gents, so I feel that you all deserve to know how your food is stored & kept in the Lismore Domino's store," he wrote alongside more than a dozen nausea-inducing images.

The takeaway food giant has now decided to temporarily close the embattled store so it can find out what is going on and ensure their "high standards" are being met.

The decision was taken after the store in question was audited by their food and safety team on Wednesday — just one day after the social media images were circulated.

Furious customers demanded a food hygiene inspection after the images were uploaded.

"The health inspector needs to see this and do an inspection," wrote one angry customer. "That meat should be in a fridge at all times or someone could get food poisoning, the fridge should be clean and the dishes ect (sic) should be clean!!

"Seriously the front of the store looks clean but I'm sure the workers won't eat that food knowing what's behind there."

However, some former employees came to the store's defence — saying it wasn't always like that.

"That's such a shame as I was on the management team at that store … and our cleanliness in that store was A1," one person wrote.

"All food was dated and always fresh."

The images have now been shared almost 900 times and prompted more than 800 reactions.

A spokeswoman for Domino's said customer safety was the company's highest priority and they decided to temporarily close the store to further investigate the matter.

"We take matters relating to food safety and hygiene extremely seriously and have strict standards in place to ensure these protocols are adhered to," she said.

"We are investigating this matter as a priority … and if it fails to meet our high standards the necessary action will be taken.

"We are also working with an independent auditor to do their own assessment so we can be fully confident this store can and is operating to only the highest of food safety standards."