Mr Alan Zhang, of  1 Osborne Avenue, Great Yarmouth pleaded guilty to seven charges under the Food Hygiene (England) Regulations 2006 on Friday 30 November 2007 at Great Yarmouth Magistrate Court and was sentenced to fines of £505 as an early guilty plea had been submitted, and was also prohibited from running a food business in the future.

A clear message that premises selling food in the town ‘must operate at an acceptable standard or face enforcement action’ has been sent out by the Borough Council’s Environmental Health Team.

On 21 June 2007 the Seebreeze Chinese Restaurant, situated along Marine Parade, was visited in the evening by two inspectors as part of a routine inspection. During the course of this inspection, it became apparent that this premise was operating below acceptable levels of food hygiene standards and as such, this business agreed to voluntary close.

“On entering the kitchen it was obvious to see that cleaning had not taken place for some time. I was unable to wash my hands due to the state of the wash hand basin and very quickly, became concerned at the conditions in this kitchen.

“High risk foods were found to be out of temperature control and uncovered, leading to a risk of contamination to those foods.

“Evidence of smoking was found in the back preparation area of the kitchen and no written procedures or records were being kept by this business.

“The structure of the kitchen was also very poor with floor tiles damaged in places and paint flaking off the walls. The roof in the back preparation area was so damaged that dirty rain water had been running into this area and over metal shelving storing all kinds of foods.  It was obvious that this had been happening for some time, as the shelves had started to rust,” said Kate Watts, Commercial Team Manager who was one of the inspectors visiting this premise at this time.

Kate Watts welcomed the sentence issued by the Court and hoped that it would send a clear message to all food business operators in the Borough that they must operate their businesses, at an acceptable standard, or appropriate enforcement action will be taken by the Environmental Health Department.

For further information contact Kate Watts, Commercial Team Manager on 01493 846547 or 07768865236.

Picture Caption: Photographs taken of the Seebreeze Chinese Restaurant on 21^st June 2007.