A CHINESE restaurant in Ancoats has been fined over £10,000 after mouse droppings were found at the premise.
The company agreed to voluntarily close the restaurant until such time as the mouse infestation was under control and the cleaning standards and food safety practices were improved.
Glamorous Limited, trading as Glamorous Restaurant, Wing Yip Business Centre, Oldham Road was fined a total of £10,418.70 after pleading guilty to five offences under the Food Hygiene (England) Regulations 2006 at Manchester Magistrates’ Court on 15 May 2013.
Following a complaint, from a customer alleging they had seen mouse droppings in the restaurant, officers from the Manchester City Council Environmental Health Team visited the premise.
During the inspection officers found mouse droppings behind the restaurant bar as well as behind equipment in the kitchen, inside heated food cabinets, inside food containers in the store room and on the stairs.
Officers also discovered numerous food safety problems including greasy and dirty walls and floors, dirty cloths in use and food being stored on the floor.
Raw meat was stored next to cooked meats and equipment such as the weighing scales, refrigerators and food preparation surfaces were dirty.
A mouseThe company agreed to voluntarily close the restaurant until such time as the mouse infestation was under control and the cleaning standards and food safety practices were improved.
Officers allowed the restaurant to reopen on 21 November 2012.
The company was fined £1,700 for each of the five food safety offences.
Costs of £1,798.70 were awarded to the city council along with a victim surcharge of £120, making a total fine of £10,418.70.
The company had previously accepted a caution in 2010 for similar offences but failed to heed the advice that officers provided at that time.
Not this type of mouseCouncillor Nigel Murphy, Manchester City Council executive member for the environment said, "This was a potentially dangerous violation of basic food hygiene practice and the large fine reflects the seriousness of the problems at Glamorous Restaurant.”
"The city council will always work with food businesses to help them comply with food safety requirements and prosecution is always a last resort.
"However, where businesses fail to act upon officers' advice and blatantly flout the law, we will not hesitate to take formal action to protect the public.”
