Mice-riddled Manchester takeaway Latif’s which sold 95-day-old coleslaw is fined £12,000

Environmental health chiefs also discovered cockroaches and a mice infestation on the property in Old Trafford.
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A Trafford takeaway boss has been fined £12,000 over a mice and cockroach infestation on the premises.

Trafford Council environmental health officers found a large number of mice droppings and cockroaches near the counter of Latif’s takeaway at 381a Stretford Road in Old Trafford during a routine visit.

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There were also tubs of coleslaw for sale which were 95 days past their use-by date.

How did it come to light?

Manchester Magistrates’ Court heard that council officers first visited the premises on 30 January 2020 to undertake a routine food hygiene inspection.

During the visit they found mouse droppings throughout and a German cockroach infestation around the service counter.

Officers also found that the premises and food contact equipment were dirty, staff had no food hygiene training, the requirements of the food safety management system were not being implemented and several containers of coleslaw beyond their use by dates.

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As a result, officers immediately closed the premises due to the risk to public health and the business was given a rating of zero out of 5. Several visits were undertaken to the premises before it was allowed to re-open.

Environmental health officers returned to the premises on 18 August, 2020, and again found that the requirements of the food safety management system were not being implemented and that the premises were dirty. A follow up visit took place on 22 September 2020 and similar issues were discovered.

As a result of the conditions discovered, the owner was summoned to appear in court.

What happened at court?

Umar Latif, former director of S Dean & Co Limited, which ran Latif’s, pleaded guilty to 10 food hygiene offences at Manchester Magistrates Court on Friday 8 October.

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These included failure to have adequate procedures in place to control pests, not maintaining the premises in a clean condition, selling unsafe food due to food beyond its use by date, failing to train food handlers and not having an adequate management system in place to control food safety risks.

Mr Latif was fined £12,000 in total and ordered to pay costs of £1,500 to Trafford Council and a £190 victim surcharge for the offences, in relation to the visits in January, August and September 2020.

Coun Stephen Adshead, Trafford Council’s executive member for Environmental and Regulatory Services said: “The conditions found in the takeaway by our officers were unacceptable and we will do everything we can to prevent cases like this.

“Our residents put their trust into food businesses to operate in a safe manner and we will always take swift action where a risk to public health is found. This prosecution shows that we take these matters very seriously and we will continue to do so in the future.”

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