Another takeaway owner rapped over cleanliness

Amir Jan, who runs Ali Baba, in Leigh, was prosecuted after borough council food hygiene inspectors found mould and dirt on the walls of the Railway Road premises.

And when the local authority team visited the pizza and kebab specialist they were also alarmed about the storage of raw and cooked foods being stored together in fridges, running the risk of cross-contamination, Wigan and Leigh Magistrates Court was told.

The case comes after Lichei You, owner of La Orient in Orrell was fined £1,700 by the same court after the food hygiene team discovered a cockroach infestation there last October.

Mr You has now employed an expert pest control company to monitor his shop after being force to close down for four days.

In the latest case Mr Jan, 43, of Lever Edge Lane, Bolton, pleaded guilty to eight food hygiene regulation offences, as a food business operator and was fined £2,132 with investigation costs of £967.75 and a victim surcharge of £106.

Jessica Hodgkinson, prosecuting on behalf of Wigan Council, said the offences related to failing to maintain wall surfaces, so they were easy to clean, failing to ensure food handlers were properly supervised or instructed in food hygiene matters and that wrapping materials were stored in such a way as to expose them to a risk of contamination.

An eighth charge related to the "accumulation of dirt and the formation of condensation or undiscernible mould on wall surfaces".

Speaking after the case concluded, a Wigan Council spokesman added: "Officers from the environmental health team undertook a routine food hygiene inspection at Ali Baba, Leigh on September 26, 2016.

"Despite the repeated advice and efforts to work with them prior to this inspection, they failed to make sufficient improvements to comply with the law."

Nearly 100 interventions have been undertaken by food hygiene officers at borough premises over the past year.

This can range from surveillance, inspections and monitoring to informal advice and audits, according to council officials, or coaching for premises owners who require extra assistance to meet food hygiene standards.