Butcher Alan Garbett fined £5,500 for hygiene offences

- Published: 16 August, 2010

A petition with more than 70 signatures was handed into a court in support of a Midlands butcher charged with hygiene offences.

Alan Garbett, 54, of Springfields in Wolverhampton, admitted breaching food hygiene regulations when he appeared before Wolverhampton magistrates. He was fined £4,000 with £1,500 costs.

The court was told that contaminated ham had been found in a spot check at his shop.

Evidence was given that Garbett had previously been warned that equipment in the shop was not properly clean.

It was added that a recent decision to sell cooked food including cottage pies had also increased the risk of cross contamination.

However prosecutor Jackie Bramley did admit that the contamination was not of the most serious kind.

She said: "This was not contamination at a level that would cause injury to health but it was at an unacceptable level. Bacteria was present and this was indicative of poor food handling."

Handing in the petition to the court defence lawyer David Campbell stressed that shop had the support of the public adding: "This was unacceptable practice but not a risk to human safety. They have been trading for 60 years and this is the first time they have appeared before a court for hygiene offences."

It was added that the offences took place when Garbett, who took the business over from his father 30 years ago was off work ill.

Speaking to local reporters after the case Garbett said: "The stress of this has affected me badly but we must now learn and move on. We have always tried to do the best for our customers and will continue to do so."

Following the case Wolverhampton City Council issued the following statement: "We welcome the conviction, this was an extremely serious case that potentially put the health of customers at risk.

There is clear legislation regarding the preparation and storage of raw and cooked foods which were not being observed at this premises. We hope this sends a stark warning to other food businesses that such breaches of basic food safety will not be tolerated by the city council."

>>Cheshire butcher fined £3,000 for hygiene offences

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