Ulverston Take-Away Prosecuted for Food Hygiene Offences

2 March 2010

The owner of an Ulverston take-away, Mr Mehdi Saleh, has been prosecuted for food hygiene offences and has been prohibited from managing a food business in the future.  Mr Saleh operated Tasty Bite at 12-14 Fountain Street, Ulverston. 

Environmental Health Officers from South Lakeland District Council carried out food hygiene inspections on 19 March, 23 April and 30 July 2009.  On all of these dates they found poor standards of food hygiene practices, and problems with cleaning and food safety management including multiple structural and hygiene defects.  The council’s Environmental Health Officers found evidence that the food business operator, Mr Saleh, was not managing food safety effectively and on 30 July 2009, the premises were subject to an emergency prohibition notice, and closed temporarily in the interest of public safety.     

At Barrow In Furness Magistrates Court on 17 February 2010, Mr Mehdi Saleh pleaded not guilty to three offences relating to food hygiene and failure to comply with Hygiene Improvement Notices.  He was found guilty of the offences and in addition was prohibited from managing any food business. The council was awarded costs totalling £1700.00.

SLDC’s Environmental Health Officer, Brenda Collins, said “We took enforcement action due to the history of Mr Saleh failing to respond to both informal requests and legal notices.  We also took into account the extremely poor standards and neglect found on a number of occasions in 2009.  Prohibiting somebody from managing a food business is a severe penalty and is only considered in extreme cases. In this case the conditions in the premises were very poor and the owners lack of willingness to comply with legal requirements were such that the overriding concern was to protect public health in the future.”

Brenda added, “The action taken by SLDC sends out a very clear message to business owners that poor hygiene standards will not be tolerated.  Cleaning, good hygiene practices and management procedures are the basic principles of operating a safe food business and protecting the public.”

The premises are now under new ownership and operating to a satisfactory standard of compliance.