On Monday 6 January at Luton Magistrates Court, Luton Council successfully prosecuted Mr Shahbaz Khan, aged 36 years, of 157 Dallow Road in Luton, for operating an illegal poultry cutting plant (Photos on Flickr).
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Council food safety officers were alerted by a member of the public who noticed crates of chicken meat piled up beside a garage behind shops in Riddy Lane in July 2012. When officers visited, chicken meat was being processed without approval in unhygienic conditions. Food safety officers immediately closed the business.
Chicken was being processed in a garage with no running water. A splintered wooden pallet covered in greasy cardboard was used as a cutting surface for the meat. The garage wall was covered with a tarpaulin sheet stained with blood and dried-on chicken flesh.
The fridge door handle was dirty with dried-on chicken flesh and feathers. Flies were crawling over a wooden cutting block. Butchers were wearing dirty aprons stained with grease and blood, and there was a bag of filthy butchers aprons encrusted with scraps of chicken flesh.
Outside the garage, 38 crates of chicken waste including skin, bones and feathers were piled up and covered in blue-bottle flies with blood dripping from the crates and running over the pathway.
When Mr Khan failed to attend court in September 2013, a warrant was issued for his arrest. He was finally brought before the magistrates this week and pleaded guilty to 10 food hygiene offences. Magistrates ordered Mr Khan to pay fines of £4,650, a £47 victim surcharge and Council costs of £866 – totalling £5,563.
Cllr Mohammed Ashraft, portfolio holder for public health, said: “By carrying out his business in a garage behind shops, Mr Khan broke food hygiene laws and put the public at risk by preparing food in unhygienic conditions. Thanks to a member of the public alerting us, we were able to immediately stop his potentially dangerous business.”
