Restaurant told it risked contaminating people’s food

IT SAYS IT HAS CLEANED UP ITS ACT

A BANGLADESHI restaurant risked accidentally putting plastic in people’s food after storing it in dirty and damaged containers.

Bengal Blues in Market Place, Belper, has been warned by food hygiene inspectors it could have contaminated food by not storing ready-to-eat food properly.

The restaurant (pictured) was also criticised for leaving high-risk foods such as chicken in warm areas and was told to clean up its act after a host of cleanliness issues in the kitchen were identified.

Dirty fridge doors, rotting door frames and corrosion on part of the freezer led the inspector to give the business a one-star rating after visiting the premises on July 23 this year.

The restaurant says it has made the necessary improvements.

The dirty conditions were revealed in a report for Amber Valley Borough Council, whose inspector visited the restaurant and told it to improve in all areas.

The council inspector noted a number of issues with food hygiene and safety in the building, including record sheets for food safety checks on things such as fridge and freezer temperatures had not been done for weeks.

The inspector wrote: “High-risk food such as chicken was left at a warm temperature next to the cooker. High-risk foods must be kept under temperature control at 8 degrees Centigrade or below.

“Given that you could not inform me when the food that was out of temperature control would be sold or consumed this is a contravention of the temperature control regulations.”

He added that ready-to-eat foods were found in “very dirty” containers which risked contaminating the food.

“Many of the plastic containers were damaged, leading to the risk that shards of plastic will contaminate food,” the report states.

The condition of the kitchen was also a concern with the inspector noting a series of problems inside.

This included the painted floor covering being “eroded”, the top of the freezer becoming “damaged and corroding”, with the door frame to the kitchen “dirty and rotting”.

In addition, shelves were found to be dirty, as were the walls in kitchen, while the clothes in the kitchen were also filthy and presented “a risk of spreading contamination rather than eliminating it” according to the report.

The owners were also told the chef needed to have formal food-hygiene training as he didn’t have any. The inspection also found a lack of evidence the owners could provide accurate information to customers when asked about allergens in food.

The inspector added: “Your food safety system requires that items used for food preparation must be in a good condition, yet many were dirty and/or damaged they posed a risk of contaminating food.

“As we discussed during the inspection, given the risks of cross-contamination in the kitchen, you should not inform customers that allergen-free food can be prepared at the premises. “Instead, you must advise traces may still be present in food, but will use your best endeavours to eliminate allergens from the food during its preparation.”

When contacted by the Derby Telegraph, Ashadur Rahman, the owner of Bengal Blues, said the issues had come to the fore during the coronavirus outbreak. “We were closed for Covid, that’s where we just fell behind. There was an issue with the floor and a bit of wall in the storage area,” he said.

“We’ve done most of the work already. We’ve cleaned it up, we’ve painted it all. It’s cleaned every day.

“We’ve been here for 18 years and never had a problem, just this one time. There’s no issues with health.”

After a business is inspected, the council has 14 days to inform operators of the scoring decision. The business then has 21 days to appeal against that decision. Only after this can we at the Derby Telegraph submit a Freedom of Information request, which can take up to 20 working days to be provided.

Once we receive the information, we again contact the business in question for comment.