£4,000 in fines for hygiene breaches at service station

An inspection by Craigavon Borough Council’s environmental health department was carried out on July 5 this year at Silverwood Service Station Ltd, Silverwood Road, Lurgan.

As a result 32 summonses were issued against the premises under the Food Hygiene Regulations (Northern Ireland) and the Food Labelling Regulations.

A fine of £125 was imposed on each of the 32 charges and the defendant was also ordered to pay costs of £328 and an offender’s levy of £15.

Some of the charges related to the hot food counter where the inspection revealed that the floor covering was dirty, there was a floor tile missing below the counter, the paint was flaking on the wall covering beside the counter, the door seal on the small fridge unit in the counter area was damaged and that there were a large number of wires on the ground below the grill and hobs at the counter which were found to be dirty and made the area difficult to clean.

It was also noted that a food item stored in the small fridge at the counter was found to be past its use by date, this being fresh cream with a ‘use-by’ date of July 3, 2012.

Other breaches were that was an uncovered pipe on the floor below the shelving in the main shop which was filled with debris, there was damage to the wall covering behind the sandwich fridge unit in the main shop where pipe work entered the wall, the floor covering in the main shop was dirty, the freezers in the main shop were dirty and there was a hole at the bottom of the wall behind the fridge unit in the main shop which led to the outside.

Further charges were that cleaning chemicals were stored next to food products in the downstairs store room, the floor covering in the downstairs storeroom was dirty, the freezers in the downstairs storeroom were dirty, the shelving in the downstairs storeroom was dirty, cardboard found on the floor of the downstairs storeroom was dirty and the ceiling in the downstairs storeroom was dirty with a build up of cobwebs.

Also found was that the downstairs storeroom was found to be untidy with a build up of waste items beside the bailer area and that there was a gap along the bottom of both roller shutter doors leading from the downstairs storeroom.

Other charges alleged that food was being stored on the floor in the walk in chill room, raw food, package bacon, was stored next to ready to eat food, bread rolls, in the walk in chill room and the floor covering in the walk in chill room was dirty.

The upstairs storeroom had not been fully finished following renovations and the walls, floors and ceilings in this area had not been left in a sound, easy to clean condition.

The electrical hand-dryer was broken and there were no hand towels provided for hygienic hand washing at the toilet wash-hand basin in the WC compartment and the seat to the WC pan in the staff toilet was missing.

Under the food labelling regulations food items found on sale in the main shop were found to be past their use by date. These included five Heritage chocolate trifle pots with a ‘use-by’ date of July 4, 2012, along with a two litre Linwood’s fresh cream plastic container with a ‘use-by’ date of July 3, 2012, three Muller Corner peach and apricot yogurts and one packet of Flynns roast beef.