Breaches of food safety and hygiene regulations costs Subway over £20,000

A live mouse found on the sticky glue board trap located at the end of the customer service counter. Sewer flies on the wall to the kitchen entrance. Mice droppings in the cupboard located on the first floor in the customer seating area.Franchisees of a Subway fast food restaurant in Enfield have been fined £11,782 for breaching food hygiene, pest control and contamination regulations, following investigations by Enfield Council.On Monday 27 March 2023 at Highbury Corner Magistrates Court SRAJ Subs Limited, who operate the franchise of the Subway restaurant at 42 Church Street in Enfield Town, and its three company directors, Md Abdul Basher, Sk Zakir Hossain and Sk Kabir Hossain pled guilty to all the charges.SRAJ Subs Limited were fined £6,000, Md Abdul Basher was fined £2,751, Sk Zakir Hossain fined £1,347 and Sk Kabir Hossain fined £1,684. The company were ordered to pay a contribution to the council’s costs of £9,146.77.

The final total including fines and costs for the case was £20,928.77.The company was prosecuted for breaching Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013 for pest control, prevention of contamination, failure to keep the premises clean and in good repair and a failure to implement and maintain a permanent procedure or procedures based on the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) principles.The offences were first discovered on a routine visit to the restaurant by members of Enfield’s Council’s Environmental Health Food Safety Team on 13 November 2021, where they identified drain flies, a lack of cleanliness, mouse droppings and a live mouse stuck to a sticky glue board trap.The outcome of the visit was the immediate voluntary closure of the premises as it posed an imminent risk to public health and was given a Food Hygiene Rating of zero.

Subsequent visits to the premises found a hole in the wall, mouse droppings in the cupboard located on the first floor in the customer seating area, gaps around pipes that needed sealing, rat droppings near a rear waste pipe in washing up area, electric fly killer was not working properly and continued evidence of drain flies and mouse droppings in the till area.Further routine inspections were carried out in 2022 and 2023.For further information on Enfield Council’s food hygiene inspections visit: www.enfield.gov.uk/services/environment/food-safety