A viral video that showed an employee smashing frozen fish onto the pavement has resulted in the fish monger being found guilty at court and being fined thousands of pounds.
On 21 October 2023, the Barking and Dagenham Food Safety Team were inundated with complaints following the release of the video, which sparked outrage and concern amongst the public.
Barking and Dagenham Council’s Food Safety Team instantly responded and carried out an inspection of the premises, Moon Fish on East Street Barking. During the inspection they discovered:
- The food business operator did not have a food safety management system.
- The food premises was not kept clean and maintained in good repair and condition:
- Within the lower floor area in the butcher’s area, under the chest freezers on the shop floor, the hand contact surfaces, freezer covers were dirty and there was food spillage on the shelves.
- The WC pan and associated areas were dirty in the men’s and ladies’ toilets at the time of the inspection.
- There were holes and openings throughout the premises including on the butcher counter undershelf near the kitchen door, under the counter inside the kitchen, in the ceiling over the walk-in chiller and a large opening over/rear of walk-in chiller.
- The wall partition inside the kitchen shop floor was not easy to clean as the partition had not been finished to provide a smooth cleanable surface.
- The hose serving the kitchen sink was leaking.
- Food handlers were not supervised and instructed and/or trained in food hygiene matters needed as part of their work. There were no training records available for inspection.
- At the time of the visit, raw food, such as fish was stored above/next to open cooked or ready to eat foods and therefore, the food was not protected from contamination.
As a result, the business was prosecuted for several food hygiene contraventions in addition to the shocking scenes caught on video and taken to Barkingside Magistrates Court.
The case was heard last week, on Tuesday 16 July, where company director Mr Nadeem Hashmat pleaded guilty to all offences on behalf of the company and in his capacity as a director.
The penalties imposed were:
Moon Fish: £10,500 fine, £2,000 Victim Surcharge and costs to Barking and Dagenham Council of £500, totalling £13,000
Nadeem Hashmat: £1,536 fine, £614 Victim Surcharge and costs to Barking and Dagenham Council of £257.19, totalling £2,407.19
Councillor Syed Ghani, Cabinet Member for Enforcement and Community Safety said: “Why anyone would think that this behaviour was okay is beyond me – the video was shocking.
“I’m glad our Food Safety Team reacted so quickly and continued with the prosecution, it’s a great result. I hope the owners of this business have learned a valuable lesson regarding food safety and won’t allow anything like this to happen again.”
Residents can report food safety issues to the council online at: www.lbbd.gov.uk/pests-pollution-noise-and-food/food-hygiene/complain-about-food-quality-or-food-premises