Hygiene horrors in takeaway

Beetles and mouldy food were found in the kitchens of a Chinese takeaway where health inspectors uncovered a catalogue of hygiene horrors.

Shing Mui Lee, aged 56, wept in the dock as magistrates were shown photographs of the bug-infested New Four Seasons kitchens in Kingswinford.

She pleaded guilty to five separate hygiene breaches and one count of serving sub-standard food.

She was fined £4,500 and ordered to pay £1,338.09 in court costs and was banned from running restaurants in the future.

Mr Tim Holder, prosecuting, said "little critters" - bread beetles and their larvae - were found in a bag of flour during an inspection of the High Street premises on November 9, 2005.

"Door handles were also sticky and dirty and there were large deposits of grease on the floor and the window sills," he said.

"Dirty-coloured liquid was found on shelves in the storage area and mouldy grapes were stored in the fridge."

Environmental health officers also discovered damp and mould in food preparation areas, parts of the roof missing and food debris littering the floor.

Other problems included electrical faults, dirty utensils and raw meat kept on top of ready-to-eat food in the freezer.

The court also heard how Lee had been ordered to pay almost £10,000 in costs and fines for food safety offences on two previous occasions in 2002 and 2003.

In mitigation, Mrs Jenny Loynton said the Chinese takeaway shop owner, who has traded in the High Street for 30 years, was "humiliated".

She said £15,000 of improvements had been made since the problems were identified, while management of the restaurant had passed to Lee's son Jimmy.

"Positive steps have been taken and we have come a long way from those terrrible photographs," she said.

"Mrs Lee has worked very hard after her husband left her with three young children aged five, nine and 11 and this business has helped her educate her children who are now 23, 28 and 30."