A WARMINSTER takeaway where flies had 'free access to food' fined more than £28,000 for repeat food hygiene offences is under new management.
On September 13, the former food business operator of Speedy Chef on Weymouth Street in Warminster was fined £28,200 for recurring food hygiene offences.
Wiltshire Council’s Food and Safety team identified significant breaches of the food hygiene regulations at an unannounced inspection in August 2019.
A council spokesman said: “Despite previous enforcement action, the breaches found were shocking.
“It was identified that there was no management system in place to ensure food could be produced safely, and the defendant had failed to engage with the daily management needed.”
The council said that food was exposed to the risk of contamination from both the food handlers themselves and poor cleaning of the food rooms and food equipment.
Additionally the bathrooms were said to be filthy with no hand soap and a sink was taken away from the food preparation area despite previous action requiring it.
“The toilet and wash basins, where provided, were filthy and no hand soap was provided so that the staff could wash their hands effectively.
Cabinet member for public protection, Simon Jacobs said: “Unfortunately there remain a few businesses out there that don’t and won’t follow the simple steps to produce food safely, and this case highlights complete indifference by the business at that time to safeguard its customers.
“This cannot be tolerated and our officers will bring these cases for enforcement wherever it is warranted.
“I’d like to publicly thank our Food and Safety team for all their hard work in achieving this positive outcome.”
The council spokesman continued: “There had been a complete neglect of cleaning of the food equipment.
“Food was stored in fridges and freezers which were filthy with mould, mildew and food debris, including the contact surfaces regularly touched by the staff.
“Chopping boards, knives and skewers were all carelessly stored in dirty environments where they could become contaminated before use.
“The defendant had no equipment to monitor critical control temperatures for hot and chilled foods. Salad items and mayonnaise in the chilled display were stored at 14.80C which would permit harmful bacterial growth.
“Flies had free access to food surfaces in an upstairs food room through an unprotected open window.
Follow up visits in September and October 2019 revealed a complete failure of the defendant to act to remedy matters, putting customers at prolonged risk of food borne illness.”
The takeaway now operates under different management with a food hygiene rating of three from its latest inspection In March this year.
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