A food business operator has been sentenced to 100 hours of unpaid work and fined more than £2,000 in a successful prosecution by the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead’s Environmental Health team.
Bartosz Rybka appeared at Reading Magistrates’ Court on Friday 21 July where he pleaded guilty to a number of failings at the Pierozek deli which had been located in Market Street, Maidenhead. The business has now closed.
At the hearing Rybka, 37, admitted the following offences:
• Failing to comply with a Hygiene Improvement Notice - by failing to provide adequate facilities for washing hands behind the deli counter and in the staff toilet at the business, contrary to The Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013
• Failing to provide suitable and sufficient hand washing facilities – by failing to provide hand washing facilities in the immediate vicinity of the staff toilet at the business, contrary to The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 and the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974
• Failing to comply with a Hygiene Improvement Notice – by failing to provide adequate facilities for washing utensils and equipment used behind the deli counter at the business contrary, to The Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013
• Failing to correctly label food items – in that he displayed a quantity of food items that were incorrectly labelled, in that they did not display the required information with respect to allergens, and/or were not labelled in English, contrary to the Food Information Regulations
For failing to comply with the Hygiene Improvement Notices, Rybka was fined £623 for each offence, and for failing to correctly label food items was fined a further £1,038.
For failing to provide suitable and sufficient hand washing facilities in connection with the staff toilet he was handed a 12-month community order with 100 hours of unpaid work.
He was also ordered to pay £2,000 in costs and a victim surcharge of £190.
Obi Oranu, Environmental Health Service Manager at the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead, said: “Our Environmental Health team regulates businesses through inspections and checks compliance. Occasionally, where there is non-compliance, the team will work with the business to ensure this is achieved. Where necessary, to protect the public, the team serves statutory notices requiring operators to make improvements.
“Where these notices are not complied with, the council will consider prosecution to protect residents and visitors and ensure regulations set out in law to promote health and safety and hygiene are complied with. Correct food labelling is incredibly important, not only to help consumers make informed choices, but also so they are aware of any potential allergens contained within products on sale.
“This successful prosecution demonstrates the council’s commitment to protecting its residents, and I’d like to congratulate the team on securing this positive result. They will continue to carry out checks across our borough and act upon information received to help ensure businesses are operating within the law.”
If residents have concerns about hygiene at local businesses, these can be reported to the council’s Environmental Health team at https://www.rbwm.gov.uk/home/environment-and-waste/environmental-health.