Stephen Taylor (52) of admitted nine hygiene offences under the Food Hygiene Regulations 2006 and the General Food Regulations 2004, following environmental health inspections in November 2011 at the Bird in Hand public house in Blidworth, Nottinghamshire (Photos on Flickr).
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Following a prosecution by Newark and Sherwood District Council he was fined a total of £2,100. He was also ordered to pay £200 as a contribution towards the council’s legal costs and a £15 victim surcharge.
On sentencing His Honour Judge Michael Stokes QC said that, in all the circumstances, a fine was sufficient to underline the seriousness of the offence, rather than deal with him so harshly so as to put the business under threat.
He admitted the charges brought by Newark and Sherwood District at Mansfield Magistrates’ Court on May 2, and was sentenced on June 21st at Nottingham Crown Court.
Senior environmental health and food safety officers visited the Bird in Hand following indications of poor hygiene revealed in a routine sampling exercise.
Food preparation had been under close scrutiny after samples taken from several parts of the kitchen and ready-to-eat foods were found to contain high levels of bacteria that had spread onto food and preparation surfaces.
Inspectors found mouldy pies and out-of-date food in the fridges, dirty cloths, rusty food equipment posing a risk of contamination of food and a general lack of attention to maintenance, cleaning and hygiene management.
Staff had little appreciation of the cross-contamination risks involved after the handling of raw meat and had to be reminded when to wash their hands. Soil from raw potato waste had been spread onto food preparation tables and cleaning was not being done effectively.
Taylor, who had run the pub for nearly ten years and was not represented in court, said that he left the operation of the kitchen to his wife.
Only after a further eight visits by environmental health staff, who tested cleaning and disinfection procedures and offered support to the business, have improvements been made.
The pub is now rated as good under the Food Hygiene Rating System, the national standard used by Newark and Sherwood District Council to rate the hygiene of food premises.
The council’s environmental health manager, Alan Batty, said: “We will rigorously enforce the law and use all the powers at our disposal against businesses in the Newark and Sherwood District Council area which choose not to comply with hygiene requirements. This case sends out a clear message to the food business community that poor standards will not be accepted.”.
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