Cockroach-infested London restaurant fined £10,000
A Syrian-style restaurant that was home to live and dead cockroaches has been fined £10,000 for breaching food and safety regulations.
The Abu Zaad restaurant in London's Paddington was closed immediately in August last year after a Westminster City Council inspector found cockroaches mating, along with cockroach faeces inside food storage units and cockroach egg cases covering the floor, according to the Mirror today.
Chicken skewers were also being prepared on a chest freezer that showed evidence of cockroach breeding and life-cycle activity, the court heard.
Adnan Sheikh-Krayem, 28, the restaurant's director, admitted to four counts of breaching EU food safety and hygiene regulations at Westminster Magistrates' Court and was fined £6,000. The restaurant company was found guilty separately. The court heard how the restaurant had already received a pest report in the previous May, but appeared to have ignored it.
The director originally came to the UK from the Middle East 10 years ago, and initially took a job as a kitchen cleaner.
Chair of the bench Stevie Dee commented: "When he started out, he was cleaning the kitchen, [so] he should have been able to pick up what was required of him by his employers and put it into action."
The restaurant has now re-opened, and was rated as "generally satisfactory" after its most recent FSA inspection.
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