Takeaway owner fined for food hygiene offences

The owner of a former fast food outlet in Caerphilly town centre has been prosecuted for a range of food hygiene failings that were discovered during an inspection by Caerphilly county borough council.

At Abergavenny Magistrates Court on Thursday 27th August 2009, Mr M. Elsaouaf, the owner of the former Chicos takeaway, was found guilty of breaching several food hygiene regulations and was fined £450 for the offences and ordered to pay the council costs of £1,089.

CCBC cabinet member for the environment, Cllr Lyn Ackerman, said, "We are pleased with the outcome and welcome the action taken by the court. The council wants to send out a clear message that any such breaches of food hygiene regulations will not be tolerated and our staff will continue to scrutinise food outlets to ensure they meet the appropriate standards or face the consequences."

An Environmental Health Officer from the council, witnessed the hygiene offences during inspections carried out in August and September last year. Mr Elsaouaf pleaded guilty to five offences, three of which related to his failure to comply with hygiene improvement notices. These were served on the owner due to the fact that food handlers had received no food hygiene training, the floor surface to the food storeroom was unsuitable and there was no food safety management system in place to ensure that food produced on the premises was safe to eat. The lack of such a management system resulted in poor standards of cleanliness and poor food handling practices.

Eleven other hygiene offences were taken into consideration. Chico's takeaway ceased trading in September 2008.