A Coventry food business has been fined a total of £6,326.34 after pleading guilty to food hygiene offences.
Mr Abid Hussain was the sole trader and the food business operator of Peri Peri Original, 6-8 Carter Road, Coventry, CV3 1BX (the business) at the time of the earlier hygiene offences that took place in February 2022.
Aribah Ltd, the company that took over the business, was the food business operator at the time of the later hygiene offences which took place in August 2022. Mr Hussain was the director of Aribah Ltd at this time.
Mr Hussain pleaded guilty to all charges, in his capacity as an individual and in his capacity as a director of the company, at Coventry Magistrates Court on 22 April 2024.
Mr Hussain was fined £1,000 and was ordered to pay full investigation costs of £2426.34 and a victim surcharge of £100.00.
Aribah Ltd was separately fined £2,000 and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £800.00.
Food & Safety Officers visited the business in February 2022 after a complaint from a member of the public concerned that they had seen a live cockroach when ordering some food. During this visit Officers found a significant cockroach infestation, the premises were also found to be in a very dirty condition with rat activity in the yard area where some food was being stored and prepared.
The premises were voluntarily closed whilst improvements were made and the cockroach and rat infestations were treated. The business was allowed to reopen three weeks later.
However, during a further unannounced complaint visit in August 2022, further evidence of cockroaches was found and the premises were voluntarily closed again. The business undertook the required work and then was able to reopen when the risk to health had been removed.
When questioned about the poor conditions found, Mr Hussain stated that he hadn’t been at the premises regularly in the weeks beforehand due to personal reasons.
Both Mr Hussain and Aribah Ltd pleaded guilty to the following offences:
• Failure to put in place adequate procedures to control pests
• Failure to keep the premises clean and maintained in good repair and condition
• Failure to put in place, implement and maintain procedure or procedures based on Hazard Analysis and Critical Controls
• Failure to ensure the construction of the premises permitted good hygiene practices, in particular, pest control
The premises remains subject to routine unannounced inspections by the Food & Safety team and is currently rated a 3 (Generally Satisfactory) on the National Food Hygiene Rating Scheme.
The Council always tries to work with businesses offering advice and guidance where possible but will take the necessary actions if they feel there is a risk to health. In this instance, the seriousness of the findings resulted in the need to close the business until the risk to health was removed.
It is vital that people running food businesses in Coventry have adequate procedures in place to ensure the safety of the food they sell at all times.”
Davina Blackburn, Strategic Lead for Regulation in the city, said: “We take a staged approach to enforcement wherever possible, but the conditions found here required immediate action. It was disappointing to find that the conditions were found to have deteriorated again at the business and the fine given reflects this.”
“Food hygiene offence is a serious matter and the courts have sent out a strong message that formal action will be taken where necessary.”
“We would encourage all residents to report unsatisfactory food hygiene conditions found in food businesses in Coventry to ehcommercial@coventry.gov.uk or call 08085834333”.