Chinese takeaway in Highley fined for breaches of food hygiene law

A Chinese takeaway in Highley has been fined a total of £4,000 for 17 breaches of food hygiene law and smoke-free legislation.

Routine visits to the premises by officers from Shropshire Council’s regulatory services team revealed poor standards of food hygiene and safety at the business, Happy Highley.

At repeated visits, officers found filthy conditions including rubbish piled up by the rear door, dirty and greasy facilities and equipment and food at a risk of contamination. At the visit in June 2018 the owner admitted to officers instances of smoking in a food room, despite clear no smoking signage being displayed in the premises.

Despite numerous warnings, conditions did not improve which led to formal action being taken by the council.

In court this week, accompanied by a translator, the owner Mr Tao offered no explanation and was found guilty of all 17 charges.

Matthew Aldridge, Shropshire Council’s health protection team manager, said:-

“We always try and work with businesses to achieve hygiene compliance, but where standards do not improve we have no option but to seek formal action. It is unfortunate in this case that standards hadn’t improved after several visits.

Joyce Barrow, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for communities, waste and regulatory services, said:

“Shropshire Council has a dedicated team that work hard to ensure that food is safe in Shropshire so that residents and visitors can dine out or have a takeaway with peace of mind.

“There is really no excuse for businesses to let their premises get into such conditions.

“We hope that this sentence shows a clear message to food traders of the implications of not practising good food hygiene.”