Curry house of horror: Rotting mice found in Brick Lane restaurant

 
Dead mice: Muhib Indian Cuisine on Brick Lane
Emer Martin18 June 2012

A man has been banned from running restaurants after three rotting mice and a live cockroach were found in his curry house.

Three rotting mice at various stages of decomposition were discovered on a sticky trap at Muhib Indian Cuisine on Brick Lane.

A large oriental cockroach was found in the kitchen, Snaresbrook Crown Court heard.

Environmental health officers from Tower Hamlets council said there was “no area in the kitchen or basement that was free from the presence of mice”.

Mouse droppings were found in boxes of lettuces, tomatoes and peppers, as well as in takeaway containers.

The restaurant was shut down almost immediately after the spot inspection, in which officers described a “systemic” failure to meet hygiene regulations.

Batir Miah, 40, director of Rayhill Ltd which ran the Bengali restaurant, admitted seven breaches of European Commission and food hygiene regulations.

He was fined £7,000, ordered to pay £3,000 costs and banned from managing any restaurant or food outlet.

The company has since gone into liquidation forcing Miah, from Ilford, to work as a waiter.

Judge Martyn Zeidman said: “The bottom line is this - if you run a restaurant, you are in effect on trust to ensure the food is hygienically prepared.

“The customer has no means of knowing what goes on behind closed doors - if they had known can you imagine how shocked they would have been?

“When eating a salad, a person doesn’t check for mouse excretions but droppings were found in lettuce, tomatoes and peppers.

“This is a bad case and I must protect the public against any further misconduct and in the circumstances it is proper to impose a prohibition on you managing any food business.”

Prosecutor Archie Maddan said the offences were discovered when environmental health officers carried out a routine spot check inspection in April last year.

He added that Miah had received notices in November 2010 and March 2011 warning him that his housekeeping must improve.

“This was systemic and over a period of time, it was not just on that day and the staff were running the kitchen in a sloppy way.

“There were no illnesses arising but it’s the potential of that which is obviously of concern.”

Defending, Brian Richardson told the court: “After these matters were brought to his attention he sent his staff on courses and spent something like £10,000 trying to rectify the problem but because of the bad publicity he received, he was not able to get the business up and running again.”

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