Fines of more than £25,000 have been imposed on the company behind a Hull takeaway guilty of a series of food hygiene offences.
Moon River, Holderness Road, was shut down using a Hygiene Emergency Prohibition Notice (HEPN) on March 29 last year after an inspection by officers form Hull City Council’s Food Safety Team found a series of potentially dangerous hygiene breaches.
- the premises was found to be ‘filthy’ throughout
- there was evidence of cross contamination from raw foods to cooked foods in both storage and preparation
- food handlers were not wearing protective overclothing and failed to wash their hands after handling raw food
- there were several areas of the premises that were poorly maintained
- there was no antibacterial surface cleaner.
The problems were severe enough to be considered an imminent risk to public health and Hull Magistrates Court subsequently issued a Hygiene Prohibition Order which forced the closure of the takeaway until the Food Safety Team was satisfied it no longer posed a health risk.
The business was allowed to reopen after meeting the necessary standards. However, officers returned on May 19 to investigate a food complaint they had received.
Their investigation found:
- food handlers were not wearing protective overclothing
- cooked foods were stored in close proximity to raw food creating a cross contamination risk
- high risk foods were stored out of temperature control
- food was stored in dirty cardboard boxes
- flies were found to be crawling on cooked foods
- there was no date labelling system in place to ensure stock control
- access to the hand basin was very difficult so that food handlers could not easily wash their hands.
Once again, officers deemed there was an imminent risk to public health and an HEPN to force immediate closure.
At a hearing on December 4, the hygiene breaches found during both visits were taken into account. A guilty plea to nine separate offences was entered and the court fined the limited company which owns the takeaway, Ying 888 , £25,000 and £500 costs be paid. Additionally, the director, Mrs Ying Ni was fined £500 and ordered to pay £500 costs and £100 victim surcharge. The fines were imposed for failure to implement and maintain a food safety management system with no separate penalty for the other offences.
The food business operators were previously prosecuted for serious food hygiene offences in 2014.
Michael Fish, Principal Environmental Health Officer at Hull City Council, said: “Food businesses must have in place a documented food safety management. It is imperative that the controls highlighted in this document are fully implemented into the business to ensure food safety is maintained at all times.
“Officers have worked closely with this business for a number of years giving food safety advice. Where businesses fail to act upon this advice and the result is that there is a risk to public health then we have no other alternative but to consider formal action in line with the graduated approach to enforcement.”
