Takeaway owner admits to hygiene offences at shop

Hanny Eskander, the owner of the Mr Crackling business in Falsgrave Road, pleaded guilty to three offences at Scarborough Magistrates' Court under the Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013.

The offences were:

* Failure to implement a food safety management system

* Failure to ensure that the premises was kept clean

* Failure to ensure that all articles, fittings and equipment with which food comes into contact were kept clean

Mr Eskander was fined £300 and also ordered to pay £520 in costs to the council and a further £30 victim surcharge.

The council brought the case against Mr Eskander after a long history of his business not complying with food hygiene regulations, particularly relating to the lack of an adequate food safety management system.

This had led to a number of unsafe practices in relation to the cooking and reheating of joints of meat and a consistent failure to meet the basic requirements of the regulations.

The breach was raised with Mr Eskander during routine inspections of his business in 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015. During this period, three Hygiene Improvement Notices were served on his business and a Food Standards Agency coaching visit was undertaken in 2014 to help Mr Eskander implement a suitable system.

Mr Eskander also consistently failed to comply with other elements of the food hygiene regulations such as cleaning and structural requirements, which again were raised at each inspection. The business has never achieved a food hygiene rating of more than 1, which signifies ‘major improvement necessary’.

During the most recent inspection on 14 April 2016, the council’s Environmental Health officer again saw evidence that safe methods were not being implemented. He witnessed slow and insufficient reheating of cooked meats with no temperature probe available to monitor cooking and reheating temperatures, cleaning problems and structural and equipment disrepair.

Following notification of court action, Mr Eskander did start to implement the improvements required and the council has since seen positive changes at his business.

Jonathan Bramley, Scarborough Borough Council Environment and Regulation Manager said: “Our Environmental Health officer worked tirelessly with the owner of Mr Crackling for many years to help him bring his business up to the required standards to meet food hygiene regulations, but to no avail. We felt that given the many chances Mr Eskander had to make improvements, we were left with no choice but to pursue court action.

“We are pleased that in the run up to his appearance in court and since that time, Mr Eskander has made the improvements needed. We are just very disappointed that it took enforcement action for him to do so because it could so easily have been avoided.

“High standards of cleanliness and a comprehensive food safety management system are essential for any food business. To protect the public we will always take action against those that do not comply with these requirements.”