Food Safety
An international Fast Food Chain has been ordered to pay nearly £19,000 after Westminster environmental health officers found ‘appalling’ standards of hygiene in its London Leicester Square branch.
Environmental Health Officers (EHO) found a cockroach eating a chip near takeaway boxes and food serving tongs. They also found a mouse and dried chicken blood on the floor and there were no hand wash dispensers available in the food preparation area. They made the discovery during a visit in August 2008 following numerous complaints from members of the public.
The company was fined £10,500 at City of Westminster magistrates’ court in May after pleading guilty to breaching five food hygiene offences at its Leicester Square branch. It was also ordered to pay £7,937.80 costs, plus a £15 victim surcharge.
Westminster City Council had issued a ‘specific warning’ to the branch about hygiene practices in April 2007, following a planned inspection.
The district judge charged the firm the following:
- £3,000 for failing to keep the premises clean,
- £1,500 for failing to keep the food premises in good repair and condition,
- £3,000 for failing to put in to place adequate procedures to ensure pests were controlled,
- £1,000 for failing to ensure materials for cleaning hands and for hygienic drying were available at hand basins
- £2,000 for failing to ensure the layout, design and construction permitted good food hygiene practices, including protection against contamination and pest control.
A spokesperson for Westminster City Council, commented on the firm: ‘The standards of hygiene at this restaurant were appalling and simply unacceptable.