A viral video shows a large rat tucking in to the deli counter at a supermarket while employees look on

• A video shows a rat tucking in to food in an Italian supermarket while staff watch in amusement.
• The owner of the store was reportedly blackmailed over the video.
• He told an Italian newspaper that he was asked to pay money in return for it not being posted.

A video showing a rat devouring food at the deli counter of a supermarket has gone viral on Instagram.

The video, taken at an unnamed store in the Prati district of Rome, has been viewed more than 599,000 times after being shared on the Instagram account, Welcome To Favelas.

The rat can be seen tucking into a piece of fish on the deli counter while staff behind the counter watch and make no effort to remove it.

One of the staff behind the counter can be heard saying in Italian: "It must have come in with the rain," The Times reports.

The owner of the store, Giampiero, says he was blackmailed over the video, telling the Italian newspaper Il Messaggero that the person who originally filmed it had demanded money in return for not posting it online.

"I paid up. What else could I do?" Giampiero told the publication last week, according to The Times.

He later learned that the video had been posted anyway, going viral. It is not known which account originally posted the clip.

"We closed down immediately on learning the video was on the internet out of respect for our customers," he said, adding that the entire neighborhood is infested with rats and it's a "constant battle."