The former owner and manager of a fast food restaurant in Southwark has pleaded guilty to a series of food safety offences after a cockroach was found in a takeaway Chinese meal ordered for a meeting of company directors.
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Following a complaint against the Jasmine Garden and Red Planet Pizza takeaway of 33 Bartholomew Street, Southwark Council’s food safety team carried out an investigation – and an infestation of cockroaches was discovered at the premises.
The council’s food safety team also discovered:
- Routine cleaning was not up to standard
- A significant accumulation of dead and live cockroaches behind the freezer
- A cockroach nymph in a container of pineapple chunks
- A cockroach nymph in a container with mushrooms and baby sweet corn
A range of food ingredients, in uncovered containers in the preparation area, while there was a significant ongoing active cockroach problem.
Food team officers closed the premises using hygiene emergency prohibition procedures in October last year. The premises were closed for four days, while it was cleaned, and cockroaches were treated by a pest control company.
At Tower Bridge Magistrates Court on Thursday (26 January) Mahmoud Elghamry pleaded guilty to six separate offences under food hygiene regulations.
The registered company, Red London Bridge Ltd, also pleaded guilty to the six same offences under the Food Safety Act. In total Mr Elghamry and the company were fined £750 and ordered to pay costs in the region of £4,350.
Councillor Richard Livingstone, cabinet member for community safety at Southwark Council, said: “We can’t stress enough how important food safety is in our borough. Prosecutions like this send out a clear message that we will not tolerate restaurants and food outlets breaking the law and putting the health of the public at risk.
“With the help of the public in coming forward and reporting these kind of breaches, we continue to remain vigilant to this kind of offence. I’m proud to be able to say that Southwark is on track to stay within the top quarter of inner London boroughs for food safety performance.”
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