Three shoppers at a Wal-Mart in Phoenix who said they photgraphed rats crawling around food inside a bakery display case during a visit to the store have prompted a health department investigation into the incident.

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Photos: Images Of Rats

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The shoppers said they spotted the rats inside the display case eating some of the pastries at the Valley store located near 16th Avenue and Bethany Home Road.

The people who snapped photos of the rats said when they went to complain about the infestation, they were told it was normal because of construction going on at the store, Local 6 reported Thursday.

Wal-Mart said the company was taking the allegations seriously and disposed of all of the food in question.

"We take this allegation quite seriously and are thoroughly investigating it," a Wal-Mart said. "We have a consistent record of food safety in our Phoenix stores from the Department of Health and have pest-control services performed regularly. In an abundance of caution we have sanitized and cleaned the bakery area and have scheduled additional pest control. We immediately discarded all bakery products in the case in question."

A health department spokesperson said they found droppings in the bakery area during an inspection, according to an Arizona news Web site.

Health officials are investigating.

Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.