A Widnes takeaway has been closed down over hygiene concerns for the second time in six months.
On Thursday 13 December Environmental Health Officers from Halton Council carried out a food hygiene inspection at No 1 Tasty on Bancroft Road in Widnes and found a number of food hygiene concerns including dirty premises, dirty equipment and poor food hygiene practices including food at risk of contamination and poor temperature control.
Officers were satisfied the premises and food handling practices posed an imminent risk of injury to health and served a Hygiene Emergency Prohibition Notice.
This had the effect of temporarily closing the premises to protect public health. On Wednesday 19 December Halton council successfully applied to North Cheshire Magistrates Court for a Hygiene Emergency Prohibition Order which will keep the premises closed indefinitely until the health risk has been removed.
The same premises under the same ownership was also subject to a Hygiene Emergency Prohibition Order in July 2018 when similar hygiene concerns were identified. The premises was allowed to reopen once these concerns had been addressed.
Stephen Burrows, Principal Officer for Environmental Health at Halton Council, said: “This is the first time we have had to close the same premises down for the same food hygiene concerns in such a short space of time.
“Most business that are subject to formal enforcement action follow the guidance issued by the council and improve their standards. However in this case there has been a failure to follow basic standards of food hygiene and the council has had to take this action to protect public health.
“The Council will now consider what further action is required to ensure the premises complies with food hygiene standards. The premises will not be allowed to reopen until we have confidence that the management are able to operate a safe business”