Takeaway restaurant in Manchester fined £6,000 over cockroaches

5th February 2010, 11:18am

The owners of a takeaway restaurant in Cheetham, Manchester, have been fined almost £6,000 after cockroaches were found crawling around near food.

Representatives of Mughal Taste Ltd on Bury New Road, Cheetham, pleaded guilty to three food safety offences at Manchester Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, January 27.

Imran Usmani, a director of the company, attended the hearing on behalf of the company, which was fined £3,000 with £849.60 costs and a £15 victims of crime surcharge.

His business partner, Najma Bari, also pleaded guilty to three food safety offences, and was fined £1,050 with £849.60 costs and a £15 victims of crime surcharge - a total of £5,779.20 for both prosecutions.

One cockroach was spotted crawling up a tiled wall, while another was seen behind a metal fixture, both above a food preparation area. 

Another pair of cockroaches was found under a workbench, while there was also grease encrusted onto walls, food crumbs behind fridges and cookers, missing tiles and holes in walls allowing the pests to enter the kitchen.

Councillor Richard Cowell, Manchester City Council's Executive Member for the Environment, said: "The City Council works closely with restaurants and takeaways across Manchester to provide advice about keeping premises clean and pest-free, so there is no excuse for the kind of conditions we found at Mughal Taste.

"Residents should be reassured we will not stand for these appalling hygiene standards, while irresponsible business operators who think they can get away with endangering the health of their customers should be warned that we will prosecute them."

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