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Chinese restaurant has been fined £15,000 for serving food from
a filthy kitchen according to a local newspaper.
Owners of the
Oriental Fountain in Stowmarket pleaded guilty to five counts of
flouting hygiene rules at Sudbury Magistrates' Court.
The court
heard how a spot check from Mid Suffolk District Council's food
safety officers on August 17 revealed a crowded kitchen filled with
dirty dishes piled high over the sinks, mouldy chopping boards and
tubs of raw meat stored on the dirty and cracked floor.
RGB Partners,
which owns the restaurant on Station Road West, pleaded guilty to
failing to complete hygiene paperwork, failing to protect food from
contamination, failure to keep equipment clean, failing to keep the
kitchen clean and failing to train staff adequately in food safety procedures.
A sixth
charge of failing to keep a sink available for hand washing was withdrawn.
Jonathon
Reed, for Mid Suffolk, said the officer found a "very
cluttered" kitchen with bowls of cooked noodles standing next to
raw meat and bowls of cooked rice standing on cardboard. The paint
was peeling and there was mould on the wall and ceiling of the staff
toilets, he said.
The inspector
also witnessed one member of staff cutting meat and dropping it into
a bucket, which was then kicked along the floor.
Don Sheahan,
for RGB Partners, said the restaurant had recently been left without
a manager and although head chef Lock Way Ming had been given overall
responsibility he had "failed abysmally" in that role.
Mr Sheahan
said an unfortunate series of events had conspired to send standards
at the restaurant tumbling prior to the August inspection but that a
major series of improvements was being carried out in the kitchen.
"The
company takes these matters extremely seriously," he said. "It
shouldn't have been the way it was and the restaurant did have plans
to redecorate."
He said the
firm had spent £20,000 cleaning, replacing tiles and redecorating.
Helen
Williams, chairman of magistrates, said the offences were
"extremely seriously". The firm was fined £3,000 for
each count - a total of £15,000.
In addition
the restaurant was ordered to pay £3,129.66 in prosecution costs
and a £15 victim surcharge.
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