By Charlotte Webster-
Environmental health officers have closed two Chinese takeaways, after inspectors discovered an infestation of mice.
Officers from the Waltham Forest Environmental Health Division were horrified to find mice at Chinese takeaway Fortune House , located on High Road, Leyton, after being tipped off. Inspectors found droppings on storage shelves and evidence of mice gnawing on the cleaning cloths. The owners of the Chinese restaurant were taken to court, where they were ordered to pay a compensation of £980.
Magistrates ordered the restaurant to pay the council’s costs of £980 compensation. Rogue restaurants that compromise the health and safety of the public are being clamped down every year, but others seem to always pop up. A spokesperson from Waltham Forest told The Eye Of Media.Com : ” officers regularly visit various restaurants to ensure they are complying with appropriate standards of hygiene, and we sometimes discover unscrupulous restaurant owners who show little regard for the safety of the public. On a number of occasions, customers bring unhygienic restaurants to our attention. Once the restaurant owners in question make the necessary amendments to their hygiene, they can resume business again. The Eye Of Media.Com advices customers to avoid all restaurants caught flouting hygiene standards even upon their resumption of business. A camel cannot change its spots, and even if the staff at such restaurants were to improve their practice, they shouldn’t be trusted not to be seriously slack from time to time.
Officers said they were “disgusted” by the filthy kitchen of New Grace’s, 299 High Road, Leytonstone, where food was found rotting and cooking utensils and drinking glasses were contaminated with mouse droppings. The restaurant was subjected to an immediate closure by officers and magistrates ordered the restaurant to pay the council’s costs of £690. Neither restaurant was allowed to reopen until officers were satisfied that significant improvements had been made. Cllr Clyde Loakes, deputy council leader and cabinet member for the environment, said: “These pictures are truly alarming. Why the owner of a food business – who knows their livelihood depends on meeting food safety standards – would allow their kitchen to get into this state is simply beyond me.
“Keeping a commercial kitchen clean, free of pests, and up to the required standards should not be difficult for a responsible owner. If you do not make this effort our officers will close you down and you will be made to pay costs in court. The reputation of your business will be irreparably damaged. Is it really worth it for the sake of cutting a few corners?” The obvious answer is that no it is not. Yet, there will always be a number of selfish, unhygienic people who want to gain financially by cutting corners. Bosses and guilty staff of such organisations should be permanently banned from continuing in that trade, but the law takes a more sympathetic approach to these reckless individuals.