THE OWNERS of a convenience store in Kenilworth have been prosecuted for persistent food safety failures.
Avtar Sidhu and Sukhjit Sidhu, who run Sukhi’s Simply Fresh on Roselands Road, pleaded guilty at Nunesaton Magistrates Court to 15 offences including failing to implement and maintain a food safety management system.
Mr Sidhu, representing AS Roselands Ltd, was fined a total of £11,507 including costs, and Mrs Sidhu was fined £7,507 including costs.
The court heard there were no adequate procedures in place to show when chilled foods had been put out on display, when items had been defrosted or cooked and when they should have been removed from sale.
There was also no proper system in place for checking the temperature of baked-off savouries and chilled foods, and there was evidence of food being displayed at unsafe temperatures resulting in the sale of a mouldy sausage roll.
The court heard of recurring failures to maintain the cleanliness of the store room and chest freezers and a serious disregard to safe waste disposal, with inspectors finding decaying food strewn across the shop’s rear yard which was likely to attract flies and vermin.
Despite the intervention of Warwick District Council’s Food Safety team and the advice given on making improvements, the Sidhus consistently failed to put things right.
Warwick District Council’s health and community protection spokesman Coun Moira-Ann Grainger said: “Warwick District Council takes the health of our residents very seriously.
“We work closely with food establishments to encourage the highest of standards. We will always take enforcement action against businesses who fail to comply with the standards required of them and as a result put the health of our residents at risk.”
