Rat droppings, dirt and mould found at Chinese takeaway by inspectors

Environmental health officers carried out a routine visit to China House in Pasture Street, Grimsby, in November 2021 when they made the grim discoveries.

They discovered rat droppings throughout the takeaway, and also found boxes which had been gnawed at by the rodents, pools of urine and holes where the rats had got in.

Filthy cooking utentils were also found, alongside evidence that soiled tea towels were being used to cover food.

A council statement said mouldy food storage containers, poorly located defrosting raw meat, and a chopping board used to prepare raw and ready to eat food items were all found at China House.

The takeaway was closed down until the issues could be remedied, and has since been reopened after getting three stars on its hygeine rating.

The owner, Wen Yi Cao, 50, of Pasture Street, Grimsby, admitted 13 health and safety offences at Grimsby Magistrates' Court on July 15.

The chair of the bench said it was a “very disturbing case” and that the defendant had “a duty to make sure that what you are serving is safe”.

Cao was fined £358, ordered to pay £850 in court costs and a victim surcharge of £36.

Councillor Ron Shepherd, portfolio holder for safer and stronger communities for North East Lincolnshire Council, said: “I am pleased appropriate action has been taken and he has been brought before the courts. The number of food hygiene offences is alarming. Businesses operating in such a poor manner will not be tolerated.

“Our environmental health officers work hard to ensure the public’s safety and also give food business operators the direction and information they need to comply with food safety legislation. We need to protect consumers from businesses that put people’s health at risk.”

Cao pleaded guilty to the following offences:

- Placing on the market food which was unsafe in that it was unfit for human consumption

- Failed to put in place, implement and maintain a permanent procedure or procedures based on the ‘Hazard Analysis & Critical Control Points’ principles

- Failed to ensure that food handlers were supervised and instructed and/or trained in food hygiene matters commensurate with their work activity

- Failed to ensure that suitable temperature-controlled handling and storage conditions of sufficient capacity for maintaining foodstuffs at appropriate temperatures and designed to allow those temperatures to be monitored, were provided

- Failed to have adequate procedures in place to control pests

- Failed to provide an adequate number of washbasins designated for cleaning hands

- Failed to keep the premises clean and maintained in good repair and condition

- Failed to ensure that foodstuffs to be held or served at a chilled temperature were cooled as quickly as possible following the heat-processing stage, to a temperature which does not result in a risk to health,

- Failed to store and ensure that conveyances and/or containers used for transporting foodstuffs were kept clean and maintained in good repair and condition to protect foodstuffs from contamination

- Failed to store materials used for wrapping and packaging of food in such a manner that they are not exposed to a risk of contamination

- Failed to ensure that all articles, fittings and equipment with which food comes into contact were kept in good order, repair and condition as to minimise any risk of contamination

- Failed to ensure that all articles, fittings and equipment with which food comes into contact were effectively cleaned and, where necessary, disinfected to avoid any risk of contamination

- Failed at all stages of production, processing and distribution to protect food against any contamination likely to render the food unfit for human consumption