Food business fined for food safety rules after ignoring previous warning

18th December 2017

The Highland Council has successfully prosecuted a food business after discovering unsafe hygiene practices in the transportation of food.

An investigation by officers of the Council's Environmental Health Team discovered that N E Meats Ltd of Newcastle had been transporting and delivering foods from the North of England to the Highlands without any temperature control measures.

This discovery followed an earlier investigation in 2016 when the Company, was found to be delivering a large consignment of kebab meat, poultry and dairy products to Inverness.

On the 16th February 2017, a vehicle hired by N E Meats Ltd was stopped and searched outside a takeaway in Invergordon and found to be transporting kebab meat, burgers and high risk foods without adequate temperature control. The food was detained, seized and subsequently destroyed by Council officers.

On the 6th December 2017, at Tain Sheriff Court, N E Meats Ltd pleaded guilty to failing to comply with The Food Hygiene (Scotland) Regulations 2006 and fined £265.

The Council's Senior Environmental Health Officer Patricia Sheldon said: "This Company clearly floated food safety regulations for financial gain and delivered foods across Scotland in an unsafe way, despite having being hauled up for poor practices in 2016. The way that this business operated placed the safety of the food and the health of the consumer at risk.

"Food businesses have a clear and absolute duty to ensure that the food is transported, handled and prepared safety. We do our best to work with businesses, but if they do not take appropriate steps to protect the safety of the consumer and ignore our advice, then the Council will not hesitate to take formal action through the courts. Unhygienic conditions and poor practices will not be tolerated."

Chair of the Council’s Environment, Development and Infrastructure Committee, Cllr Allan Henderson praised the team for their work. He said: “The Highland Council is committed to ensuring consumers are not put at risk and our staff work hard to ensure businesses comply with food hygiene legislation. I would like to congratulate the team for taking action and safeguarding the health and well- being of customers. Well done."

For more information about food hygiene requirements of if you wish to report a food safety concern, you can contact the Environmental Health team at www.env.health@highland.gov.uk or telephone 01349 886606.