Walton on Thames take-away in the dock for poor hygiene

The boss of a Walton on Thames Chinese takeaway has been fined more than £10,000 for breaking food hygiene laws.

Raymen Yuen, company director of Star Chef Limited , the operator of the High Street’s Oriental Chef, pleaded guilty to seven food hygiene offences and was fined £1,500 for each offence, totalling £10,500, as well as being ordered to pay court costs of more £2,000.

The court heard that officers from Elmbridge Borough Council's Environmental Health & Licensing Division visited the takeaway in March last year to carry out an unannounced food hygiene inspection. Due to the unsatisfactory conditions found, officers issued two Hygiene Improvement Notices for the lack of an adequate food safety management system, as well as a general lack of controls in place to ensure that the food served was safe to eat.

A visit by officers a month later to check compliance with one of the Hygiene Improvement Notices found that the food safety management system was still not completed and further poor hygiene was also seen first hand.

Tony Deag, Head of the Environmental Health & Licensing Division, at council, said: "The aim of the council's food safety service is to ensure that local businesses provide safe food for consumers.

“We proactively help businesses in the borough to comply with food safety laws, to ensure proper food safety management systems are in place. However, where there are clear breaches of the law, which put the public at risk, we will, as in this case, take the necessary corrective action.

"It will be reassuring for consumers to know that this food business' hygiene has now improved significantly and will soon feature as a four star rated premises in the council's Food Hygiene Ratings Scheme, which publishes the results of food safety inspections online.”