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Kitchens From Hell

Posted on: Monday, 4 July 2005, 09:00 CDT

Restaurants, takeaways and shops which allowed mice, rats and cockroaches to run wild are today named and shamed by the Echo.

One chop suey house even sent out a chicken fried rice meal containing rodents' droppings and hairs, prompting a food hygiene probe. Six outlets have been fined or shut down in the past two years. Rat droppings found in chinese stir-fry: Restaurants, takeaways and shops which allowed mice, rats and cockroaches to run wild are today named and shamed by the Echo.

Six Cardiff outlets have been fined or forced to shut down in the last two years to protect customers from the filthy rodents.

One chop suey house even sent out a takeaway meal of chicken fried rice containing droppings and hairs left by rats or mice, prompting a food hygiene investigation.

Details obtained by the Echo under the Freedom of Information Act from Cardiff council's regulatory services public protection unit - which deals with food safety inspections - also reveal the businesses which failed to meet cleanliness standards, train their staff properly or keep food fit to eat.

Since June 2003, food safety officers have targeted 61 outlets in the Welsh capital for a range of food hygiene offences.

They include some of the most high-profile restaurants in the city and major chains such as Tesco, Pizza Hut and TGI Friday's.

In five cases, the owners were hauled into court to explain why they breached food hygiene rules after being prosecuted by Cardiff council - and hit in the pocket to the combined tune of almost pounds 33,000 in fines and court costs.

The Tesco store in Western Avenue was fined pounds 7,500 and ordered to pay pounds 10,320.19 costs for allowing mice to chew on packets of bourbon biscuits on the shelves.

A dead mouse was also found under a fire escape, a rat was seen scampering around the recycling bins and droppings were found in the butchery department.

Store manager Tom Hughes reassured and apologised to customers after the case and said: 'We took immediate action to solve the problems and make sure the store was up to the high standards customers expect.

'Environmental health officers and pest control experts have found no recurrence of the problem and have given the store the all- clear.

'The new procedures we have in place continue to stand us in good stead.'

Neighbouring takeaways The Red Onion and Maria's Fish Bar in Caroline Street - both owned by Dehlia Hakem - were also punished with a total fine of pounds 1,650.

Rats, cockroaches and dirt-ridden cooking facilities were found in Maria's, while a member of The Red Onion's staff had not received proper training and knew nothing about vital aspects of food hygiene.

The owner blamed the rodent problems at Maria's on building work on the nearby Brewery Quarter, saying: 'We take hygiene very seriously.'

And Rumney butcher Lee Evans was fined pounds 7,970 and told to pay pounds 3,720 costs after council officers found rotting chicken and leaking boxes of cold meat piled in a room, grime and dried blood around door seals and refrigerators and food being handled in a toilet lobby.

'I want to say sorry and I am absolutely devastated,' said Evans. Watchdogs keeping eye on our food: Cardiff's food safety officers are responsible for keeping a close eye on the quality of food produced, distributed and sold throughout the city.

They inspect premises regularly, investigate complaints from the public, sample food and organise hygiene training for owners and staff.

Between April 1 last year and March 31 this year, 1,237 food premises in Cardiff were inspected - everything from major manufacturers to the smallest of takeaways and cafes.

The outlets only get a tick against their name if they are found to have clean, suitable premises with adequate equipment and facilities and, most importantly, trained staff using safe food handling procedures.

Depending on what they find, the officers can give verbal and written advice, send warning letters, issue formal cautions, close businesses or even, in the most serious cases, prosecute.

Around 350 complaints from the public about food they have bought are made every year, ranging from finding insects or other objects in their food, mould, offensive smells or bad taste. Top eateries warned on hygiene: Even some of Cardiff's most popular spots for eating out have had their knuckles rapped by food hygiene inspectors.

Between June 2003 and last month, 66 improvement notices were sent out by the public protection unit to outlets throughout the city telling them their operation did not come up to scratch.

Checks revealed repairs which needed to be done, dirt which had not been cleaned up and staff who had not been adequately trained.

The notices give the owners a deadline to meet standards set by the Food Safety (General Food Hygiene) Regulations 1995.

Among the businesses ordered to get to work were the Pizza Hut restaurant in Queen Street and TGI Friday's on Newport Road, where the kitchen floor was in such a poor condition it could not be properly cleaned.

Spice Merchant in Cardiff Bay was told to improve its procedures for protecting food from rodents and insects, while the Juboraj restaurant in Mill Lane stored rice at the wrong temperature.

Gio's restaurant in The Hayes had too few food handlers and was also told to do a hazard analysis of its food safety procedures, and Positanos in Wood Street was given a list of nine essential repairs.

All the outlets handed an improvement notice have carried out the necessary action. Grim findings for the health inspectors: The horror stories from some of Cardiff's takeaways, shops and restaurants are enough to put anybody off their food.

Last April, the Far East Chop Suey House in Mackintosh Place, Roath, was visited by environmental health officials after a customer complained about a chicken meal containing rodent droppings and hairs.

When they checked out the premises, they found the food storage areas were riddled with rats or mice, while utensils, the kitchen and the storeroom were caked with grease and leftover food remnants.

The owner admitted the takeaway had not had a thorough deep clean for several months and was formally cautioned under the Food Safety (General Food Hygiene) Regulations 1995.

Health food shop Nature's Table in Tyndall Street sold sesame seeds containing Indian meal moths and left three dead mice and rodent droppings lying in its warehouse. Contaminated and gnawed food was also found.

The company voluntarily closed on October 26 last year and was cleared to reopen two days later after another visit found a 'much improved' cleaning operation, although it was also cautioned.

Mermaid Quay-based Cafe Naz was also told to clean up its act last August after cockroaches were found in food storage areas.

'We have now met all hygiene regulations and can assure customers this was a one-off,' said manager Khairul Islam, who said the cockroaches came from stock brought in from London.

'We took immediate action and customers have absolutely nothing to worry about.'

The R J Berry Quality Butcher shop in Cowbridge Road East, Canton, had its licence revoked in September 2003 for offences including not obeying food hygiene procedures, failing to give a member of staff any food hygiene trading and keeping Clark's pies at the wrong temperature. The owner got his licence back the following year.

And Cinnamon Foods, based on the JB Business Park in Lamby Way, Rumney, had its licence suspended for two weeks in January after inspectors found a 'poor general standard of cleanliness'.

The Echo was unable to contact Nature's Table, Berry Butchers or Cinnamon Foods for comment.

Source: South Wales Echo

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