Swansea takeaway boss fined £7,000 for filthy premises
A takeaway boss was fined £7,000 after inspectors found his premises in a "filthy" and unhygienic state.
Hon Yip Hoh pleaded guilty to 14 counts of failing to meet regulations at Swansea Oriental, in Brynmor Road.
Swansea magistrates heard the Chinese takeaway was visited in March by two environmental health officers.
Kelly Byrne, prosecuting, said some of the takeaway's hygiene practices were carried out at such a poor level that outbreaks of killer infections such as E.coli and salmonella could have occurred.
She said no health or sickness complaints were made by customers.
The inspection happened on March 27 and the officers found the premises filthy with dirt and food debris on the floor.
"Dirty and greasy cardboard and newspaper was used to line trays and to line shelves and also in the operating gas oven," said Miss Byrne.
"There was cooked chicken placed on top of raw chicken left to defrost at room temperature.
"The staff were asked to demonstrate how surfaces were cleaned. They were not using cleaning materials with antibacterial properties."
The court heard other shortcomings included there being no hot water and inadequate drainage facilities.
Miss Byrne said cross contamination could be caused between the raw and cooked chicken and that the officers considered the takeaway to be a health risk.
They immediately closed the premises down and magistrates endorsed that action by issuing a formal emergency prohibition order.
On April 3 the takeaway was revisited by the officers, who felt the immediate health risk had been removed and the order was lifted.
Defence barrister, Georgina Buckley, said Hoh was remorseful and had since spent £20,000 renovating the takeaway.
She said he had certificates for staff training that pre-dated the inspection.
"This is Mr Hoh's first offence," she said.
"It's a one off. No complaints were made, there is no evidence of any injury to anybody.
"The premises are now not only adequate but in an excellent condition.
"There's been extensive training for his employees."
She said the 28-year-old, of Brynmor Road, Swansea, had bought the business six months before the inspection and had planned to renovate and that th breaches were down to his inexperience.
Hoh was fined £7,000 and must pay £800 costs and a £15 victim surcharge.
4 Comments
by Martin, Uplands, Swansea
Monday, December 14 2009, 7:53PM
“I stopped going to Swansea Oriental some time ago after eating at least two meals from there (on at least two separate occasions) with chicken that tasted, well, old. Like it was several days past its best-before date.
It's a shame that Swansea Oriental didn't use good ingredients, because in other respects they seemed to cook pretty well, their menu was pretty good, and the staff there were lovely.
Before it became Swansea Oriental, that address was a Chinese takeaway called Wah Hing. Wah Hing was great - it went through a couple of bad patches (most notably several months when the food was really greasy), but most of the time I really liked it. I'm still looking for a good replacement for Wah Hing but I've not found one yet - lots of the local takeaways are let down by rubbish food or grumpy staff (yummy yummy food can be spoilt by a miserable ordering experience).
Maybe I'll give Swansea Oriental another go soon to see if cleaning their kitchens up has encouraged them to start using proper ingredients.
MESSAGE FOR SWANSEA ORIENTAL:
Cutting corners like that doesn't pay. You might not have had many people complain that your food tastes off, but that doesn't mean it's not hurting your business. Some people have no taste buds and don't notice bad food, but lots of people do notice. And the people that do notice generally won't make the effort to go back and tell you that your food tastes off, they'll just find another takeaway to go to. And they'll tell their friends to stay away from you too.
The people that notice are generally the people with influence when it comes to the question of "hmm, where shall we all get a takeaway from tonight?" And word of mouth is super important for small local restaurants and takeaways like yours.
Certainly you've lost at least several hundred pounds' worth of business as a result of serving dodgy chicken to me on two occasions. And I'm sure there are many others that have acted similarly and impacted your bottom line similarly as well.
If you need to put your prices up to be able to afford good ingredients then please do so. The bums that come in at 11:00 complaining about the cost of chips might not like it, but the sorts of customers that you actually want (the ones that are quietly responsible for the majority of your revenue) are unlikely to mind. You can send the penny pinchers up the hill to a Chinese takeaway with food so consistently awful that their only hope is to compete on price.
I only write this because I'd love to see you become a great Chinese takeaway - Uplands/Brynmill needs one for sure. Good things will come, in time, if you work on making your food better (ideally a lot better, because the local competition isn't particularly challenging at the moment). I'm sure what I've written will echo the thoughts of many others in the area.
So I hope you are reading this! Please comment if you are.”
by Ken, San Diego, San Diego
Monday, December 14 2009, 3:17PM
“When I lived in Singapore we ate at roadside stalls every day - no running water - no refrigeration !
It was 100F - the woks would have bits of everyone's previous meals in them !
Guess what - we never got sick !
Some of the 'chicken' legs were over a foot long - that made us wonder !”
by Mrs Smith, moneybox
Monday, December 14 2009, 11:10AM
“Well I never!!!! Look up dears, look at the state of the nets/curtains before you decide to eat in such filthy places”
by swansea, swansea
Sunday, December 13 2009, 7:47PM
“i had a chinese from this place yesterday and it was disgusting! wnt be havin one agen in a hurry!”