Restaurant's £3k court bill for serving peanuts in nut-free meal
A restaurant has been ordered to pay out more than £3,000 after serving peanut-free food – that contained peanuts.
The dishes served at Mozalicious, in Langley, Oldbury, could have caused a potentially fatal reaction for someone with an allergy, a court heard.
Sandwell Council’s trading standards officers requested peanut-free meals when they visited the Indian restaurant and takeaway in Langley High Street. They had visited Mozalicious, along with more than 40 other restaurants, during November and December 2017. Posing as customers with peanut allergies, they requested the peanut-free meals.
Subsequent analysis in a laboratory found the meals of butter lamb contained enough peanut to produce a reaction in someone with an allergy, which could have been potentially fatal.
Mozalicious owner Afsar Ali was fined at Wolverhampton Magistrates' Court last month following the investigation and prosecution by the council.
Magistrates were unconvinced by Ali’s claims that officers had never requested the meals be made without peanut, and that he had done everything in his power to prevent such an incident occurring.
The court heard Sandwell Council environmental health officers were carrying out a food hygiene inspection at the same time. Their evidence showed restaurant staff were not following strict allergen control procedures, including a chef using the same spoon for nut powder, as well as for other ingredients.
Ali, aged 31, was found guilty, following a trial, of providing food that was not of the quality demanded and was unsafe.
He was sentenced on February 28 and ordered to pay a fine of £1,200, costs of £1,854.40 and a £120 victim surcharge.
Councillor Elaine Costigan, cabinet member for public health and protection, said: “If the meals had been served to someone genuinely suffering from a peanut allergy, the consequences could have been fatal.”
