This is the disgusting moment council inspectors discovered a severe cockroach infestation at a Liverpool takeaway.
Video footage shows German cockroaches scuttling from the rear of a filthy freezer at Chesters in Lime Street, Liverpool city centre.
Photographs show raw meat stored above ready-to-eat salad, filthy flooring and equipment and dirty cardboard used to soak up blood from raw chicken in “one of the worst” cases Liverpool’s environmental health team has seen.
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Staff were also not provided with suitable facilities to wash their hands and there was no food hygiene plan in place, inspectors found.
Smithdown Road Fast Food Ltd, the company which owns the business as well as a second branch on Smithdown Road, was ordered to pay £10,720 in fines and costs after pleading guilty to 17 breaches of food hygiene laws.
Company director Arifa Patel, 39, and her husband and manager of the branch Sadiq Patel, 42, of Holmrook Road in Preston, were also ordered to pay £2,550 each individually after pleading guilty to identical charges.
Roger Mann, prosecuting on behalf of Liverpool City Council, told Liverpool magistrates that the problem came to light after a routine inspection by Richard Parkinson on September 16, 2014.
Arifa and Sadiq Patel, owners of Chester in Lime Street, leaving Liverpool Magistrates’ Court
The court heard dead cockroaches and cockroach eggs were found at various points in a basement kitchen at the restaurant before the full extent of the infestation was discovered.
Mr Mann said: “Mr Parkinson was sure there was an imminent risk to public health which required the immediate closure of the business.”
Mr Patel, the restaurant manager, agreed to close the branch voluntarily and explained he had only owned the business since June.
The court heard the restaurant was allowed to re-open with a zero-star hygiene rating but follow up visits in March, July and October found some problems had still not been addressed, including food debris on the floors and damage to shelves and flooring, leaving them difficult to clean.
Food in fridges was also being stored at 11°c, despite the legal limit being 8°c.
Chesters takeaway on Lime Street
Mr Mann said: “Really the photographs speak for themselves. There was a severe risk to the public despite repeated visits and advice being given. There were real problems when the inspectors returned. This we say is one of the worst cases we have ever come across and we ask you to sentence accordingly.”
Mr Patel, who was not represented in court, said: “I would like to apologise for all this. For the last 19 years I have been in the fast food business and I have never been given a rating of less than four stars, The reason this happened was because when I took over the business my health began to suffer with an illness that doctors are still trying to diagnose.
“A few weeks after I took over my dad’s health went down and doctors at Blackpool Victoria Hospital said he would not be with us for long.”
The court heard Mr Patel’s father passed away in December 2014.
Chesters remains open and has a one-star hygiene rating, given in March 2015, which means major improvement is required.
Source: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/