Food safety concerns land Walsall takeaway with one star hygiene rating

Ahmed's Takeaway, Milton Street, was inspected by a Walsall Council food safety officer in April and given just one star for hygiene.

Inspectors found that "major improvement" was necessary concerning food safety at Ahmed's.

The officer found the takeaway was failing concerning "system or checks in place to ensure that food sold or served is safe to eat, evidence that staff know about food safety, and the food safety officer has confidence that standards will be maintained in future."

When it came to cleanliness and condition of facilities and building Ahmed's was told "improvement necessary".

Inspectors ruled Ahmed's should improve the cleanliness and condition of facilities and building (including having appropriate layout, ventilation, hand washing facilities and pest control) to enable good food hygiene

When it came to rating the hygienic handling of food including preparation, cooking, re-heating, cooling and storage inspectors found it was "generally satisfactory".

Ahmed's manager Mehrab Nasir told the Express & Star they are now following the advice from the food safety officer.

He said: "We are cleaning a lot more. We have trained our staff to clean better. Everything the officer told us to do we are doing.

"I do not believe the next time we are inspected we will get a one star hygiene rating, that will never happen again."

Ahmed's boasts on Google they serve "the best samosas in town", they tell customers: "Takeway locally very popular for serving high quality, home style cooking at very affordable prices.

"We serve tasty Desi savouries such as pakoras, samosas, kebabs, katlamas, chaat; fresh curries made daily, rotis/naans; baguettes, paninis, wraps and a new American style menu: loaded fries, flame grilled burgers, buffalo wings. We also provide food for catering."

The takeaway has a 4.3 star rating on Google with many reviewers praising the samosas and speed of service.

In January a customer complained in a review about the cleanliness of Ahmed's.

Giving a three star rating out of five, K Khan said: "Good service but place is not that clean."

The review elicited a response two months later.

The owner responded: "Dear customer. Please note that our takeaway was undergoing refurbishment which is why you may have seen hardware and tools. However, rest assured all the refurbishment has now been carried out and our takeaway is looking greater than before."

Of Walsall's 290 takeaways with ratings, 82 (28 per cent) have ratings of five and none have zero ratings.