| The owner of an Edmonton pizzeria has been given an eight-week suspended jail sentence and the company was ordered to pay £4,662.44 by magistrates after he admitted to a string of hygiene failings.
The owner of Apple Pizza, in Upton Road, Edmonton, Kamran Javadpour, 48, Upton Road, was prosecuted by Enfield Council at Tottenham Magistrates’ Court on 2 June, and pleaded guilty to 14 breaches of the Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations, 2013.
He was given an eight-week jail sentence suspended for 12 months and ordered to pay an £80 victim surcharge. The company was fined £2,000, ordered to pay £2,542.44 in costs and a £120 victim surcharge.
Apple Pizza has a history of poor hygiene, including a poor cleaning regime dating back to April 2012 and, despite repeated warnings from Enfield Council food safety officers, failed to clean up its act.
Enfield Council’s Cabinet Member for Environment, Cllr Daniel Anderson, said: “It is completely unacceptable for food businesses to put residents at risk through shoddy working practices and poor basic hygiene and we will take action when we find those failings.
“We work with food outlets in Enfield to raise standards, but where businesses are unwilling or unable to meet the standards we expect we will close them down and prosecute, as we did in this case.
“The public, rightly, has a presumption of safety when they order a takeaway or eat out, and food outlets which do not meet appropriate safety standards are needlessly endangering the public and putting people at risk and we will not tolerate this type of behaviour.”
The court heard that a routine hygiene inspection on 10 February 2015 found Apple Pizza was extremely dirty and had a significant mouse infestation. Inspectors from Enfield Council found poor cleaning, a lack of training in food hygiene by staff, a build up of dirt and debris in the food preparation areas, poorly maintained and damaged equipment. Evidence was also found of food at risk of contamination such raw burgers stored next to ready to eat cheese slices and raw mincemeat next to butter.
Inspectors also found mice droppings in food storage areas, the food preparation area, behind fridges and freezers and under shelves in the food storage area.
The premises agreed to an immediate voluntary closure, and was instructed to call in a pest control company to tackle the mouse infestation, while a deep clean was also carried out. The premises was revisited on 11 February 2015 and because hygiene standards had improved, the pizzeria was allowed to reopen. The decision was then taken to prosecute Mr Javadpour and the company.
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