Northampton restaurant found guilty of hygiene breaches

At Wellingborough Magistrates Court on Tuesday 5 December, the food business operators of Kerala Hut, Wellingborough Road, Northampton, pleaded guilty to 12 charges of breaching food safety and hygiene regulations.

Prosecuting the case from the WNC in-house legal team, Susan Desfontaines informed the Court that the case followed a routine inspection and subsequent revisits carried out between 28 September 2022 and 31 March 2023 when WNC officers found that the kitchen was not kept clean, equipment in contact with food was in a filthy condition and/or was in poor repair, food was not being protected from contamination, and adequate facilities for cleaning hands had not been provided. In addition to this, Hygiene Improvement Notices that had been served on the company, had not been complied with.

The food business operator, Kerala Hut Ltd, together with the three company directors, were charged with 12 counts of breaching the Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013.

The company and the three directors received fines totalling £33, 097 (which included victim surcharges of £3,742) and were ordered to pay the prosecution costs of £3,147.87 in full.

Cllr David Smith, WNC’s Cabinet Member for community safety, engagement and regulatory services, said. “I welcome the decision made by the Wellingborough Magistrates Court. We take these kinds of offences extremely seriously. Food business operators have a legal responsibility to provide safe food and maintain hygiene standards; those who do not must be held accountable for their actions.

“This prosecution by the Council sends out a clear message to the food industry that non-compliance will not be tolerated.”