Glass in samosa leads to food firm fine

Southall food manufaturer Quality Foods has been fined more than £16,000 for numerous food hygeine offences after council inspectors found glass in a samosa, ingredients buckets covered in slime and machines covered in caked-on food and grease.

The London company supplied 30,000 Indian snacks a day to shops across London.

The manager responsible for the firm's daily operation, Parmpal Singh Brar, pleaded guilty to nine food hygeine offences at Ealing Magistrates Court on July 28.

The council said that a food hygeine investigation began in April 2010 after Ealing Council received complaints about glass in a samosa. Inspectors later found buckets used to store samosa ingredients covered in slime, a food conveyer belt with caked-on food and grease and "numerous examples of poor hygeine and cleaniliness".

Suspension notice

Bosses volunteered to close the business to allow improvements and the council issued a suspension notice, prohibiting the firm from storing or cooking raw meat products. However, the firm was later found to be in breach of the notice.

Councillor Ranjit Dheer said: "It is totally unacceptable to produce food in these conditions, and it could have caused a major food poisoning outbreak. It is reprehensible that someone would deliberately defy a suspension notice placed on a company."

FoodManufacture.co.uk contacted Quality Foods for comment, but was told by a manager that we had "got the wrong Quality Foods". However, no other UK company by the same name appears to exist.