Food hygiene failure proves costly for restaurant owner

The operator of the Shapla Tandoori Restaurant and take-away at 2 Castle Road, Inverness has been prosecuted this week after Highland Council environmental health officers uncovered a catalogue of poor hygiene offences during inspections in 2008.

In September 2008, officers visited the Inverness restaurant and found evidence of poor hygiene standards, including inadequate cleaning; failing to protect food from contamination; failure to maintain the premises and equipment in good repair, and have in place a food safety management system.

Patricia Sheldon, Highland Council’s Environmental Health Officer said: “Even the most basic principles of food hygiene and safety were clearly being ignored at the time of our visit, including the provision of suitable hand washing facilities, keeping the premises clean and storing and handling food safely.”

At Inverness Sheriff Court on Tuesday (19th January 2010) Mr Shabaro Ali was found guilty of six food hygiene offence, including that of failing to comply with a Hygiene Improvement Notice and fined a total of £4,000.  These matters have since been attended to.

Alistair Thomson, Highland Council’s Head of Environmental Health and Trading Standards said: “This food business was found to be operating under dirty conditions. The owner failed in his duty to manage food hygiene and in doing so compromised public safety.  The Council takes protection of the public and food hygiene matters extremely seriously. Our officers are happy to work with, and advise businesses on these issues, however, where standards have slipped to unacceptable levels, we will not hesitate to use formal action to secure compliance with legislation.”