Mould growing on chopping boards and kitchen walls, storage of food on a dirty floor, and the use of heavily stained cloths to wipe food-preparation surfaces were just some of the filthy conditions and practices found in a South End curry house.
 |
| [relatedPosts title=”Related Posts”] |
|
|
And they helped form the evidence used when Mangala Kumar appeared before Croydon magistrates on 15 October to plead guilty to three food-hygiene offences at the Blue Waves restaurant.
After admitting:
- failing to maintain a food-safety management system in order to keep food safe at all times;
- failing to keep premises clean and in good repair and condition and
- failing to keep equipment with which food comes into contact in a clean condition and in good repair and order,
he was fined a total of £2,120 and ordered to pay prosecution costs of £1,000.
The court heard that when council food safety officers had visited Blue Waves to carry out a routine food hygiene inspection they found a number of contraventions, including filthy conditions throughout the premises and equipment.
Over the course of several visits, officers had given Kumar advice and coaching, but the advice relating to the areas of cleaning, and managing and implementing a food-safety management system had been ignored.
The officers served a Hygiene Improvement Notice (HIN) requiring a deep clean and disinfection of the premises and equipment.
A revisit to check on compliance with the HIN found that very little effort had been made to improve standards and the premises and equipment were still very dirty and in a poor state of repair.
Councillor Simon Hoar, cabinet member for community safety, said: “The conditions in this restaurant were, simply, shocking.
“The practices were so bad that the health of customers could very easily have been compromised, possibly resulting in cases of food poisoning.
“The owners of food establishments have a grave responsibility for the safety of their customers and must observe and adhere to the food safety guidelines.
“In this case, help and advice offered by the council’s food safety team was blatantly ignored and the full force of the law had to be used. I hope this restaurateur, and others, take heed and learn from the severity of the penalty.”
