Willenhall takeaway owner fined over kitchen dirt

A takeaway business and its owner have been ordered to pay more than £3,700 after inspectors found its kitchen covered in dirt, debris and grease.

They also found "high risk foods" including cooked pork, chicken and rice in "ambient" temperatures during an inspection at Hong Kong Delight, in Willenhall.

The visit to the Willenhall Road takeaway on March 1 was arranged because a previous visit had found "issues of poor cleanliness, cross contamination and inadequate temperature control of high risk foods", Wolverhampton Magistrates Court heard yesterday.

Visits in April and June also found problems with cleanliness of the floors and premises. Takeaway owner Connie Ho, aged 31, of Thornbury Road, Walsall, admitted 10 charges of contravening a provision of food hygiene regulations and one of keeping high-risk at above 8C.

She also pleaded guilty to 11 charges of contravening regulations on behalf of C&B (GB) Limited, the company which operated the business, of which she is the sole director.

Mrs Wendy Richards, prosecuting, said the inspection in March found that standards of cleanliness were extremely poor.

She said that dirt and food debris was found behind a chest freezer, and a plastic container used for storing cooking equipment was en-crusted with food debris, while grease was seen on the floor and a box used to store prawn crackers. She said that Mrs Ho admitted staff had been given no formal food hygiene training although she had "instructed them" on the matter.

The court heard that a visit in April found improvements in cleanliness but the same poor standards of food handling, although some staff had been given hygiene training.

Mrs Ho, who had run the business for three years used to visit the premises every day, but those visits had fallen to "once or twice a week" after she gave birth last year, Mrs Richards said.]

Magistrate Arthur Wheldon ordered Mrs Ho and the company to pay £1,100 each in fines and £1,515 in costs.

Mrs Ho said outside court that she had not had enough time to look after the kitchen because of her pregnancy. Hong Kong Delight had since been transferred to her husband Bennett and a new limited company had been set up.