'Gnawed hotdogs and rat droppings' found at Stockton Budgens

A company has admitted three offences under food regulations after inspectors found hotdogs gnawed by rodents and rat droppings.

Samy Ltd was accused of stocking hotdogs which had been “gnawed and partially eaten by rodents” at a Teesside shop.

The company was also accused of not keeping a clean kitchen with the correct pest control measures.

Its case was heard at Teesside Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday (September 12).

The firm’s London solicitors notified the court of its guilty pleas by letter. The pleas were recorded by the court and sentencing was adjourned until 10 October.

It admitted three charges as the operator of Budgens on Premier Parade, Fairfield, Stockton.

The first accused Samy of putting unsafe food on the market – two packets of “smoked hotdogs found in the rear food preparation kitchen that had been heavily gnawed and partially eaten by rodents”, a breach of 2004 food regulations.

The firm, of Corporation Road, central Middlesbrough, also admitted two offences of failing to comply with food safety and hygiene regulations from 2013.

Here, it was alleged it failed to put adequate procedures in place to control pests, failed to protect against contamination, particularly pest control, and failed to keep the kitchen clean and maintained in good repair and condition. The charges brought by Stockton Council all date to 8 September last year.

The charges state: “Evidence was obtained of rodent activity within the kitchen where food was being prepared, handled and stored, namely rat droppings on the floor and behind equipment, rodent smear marks on the wall and rodent damaged stock and packaging.

“The structure in the food preparation area was not kept clean and in a good state of repair as there were rodent droppings on the floor of the premises.”

A fourth charge – of failing to protect against contamination, in particular, pest control in a food preparation area, with two holes in the kitchen wall said to have allowed rodents access to the kitchen – was dropped by the prosecution.

At a previous hearing Natalie Hodgson, then prosecuting, said: “It’s a prosecution that we’re bringing against Samy Ltd in relation to a dirty kitchen.”

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