Former baker banned from food industry for food hygiene breaches
The former owner of a bakery in Modbury has been formally banned from managing a food business after he pleaded guilty to a number of food hygiene offences.
William Abbot appeared before South Devon Magistrates Court in Torquay, pleading guilty to 12 food hygiene offences and agreed to have a further 36 taken into consideration. The charges related to Mr Abbot’s former business, Fox’s Bakery, which he ran in Modbury between 2003 and 2011.
Amongst the food hygiene offences were some of the basics included in food safety training courses, such as failure to implement a food safety management system, allowing premises and equipment to fall into a poor state of repair and cleanliness.
Two inspections carried out at the bakery in 2012 revealed that instead of improving conditions, Mr Abbot had allowed them to get even worse. Although Mr Abbot’s financial and mental problems were taken into account, he was still given a 12-month conditional discharge, ordered to pay court costs and handed a Hygiene Prohibition Order. This disqualifies him from being involved in the management of a food business.
Speaking to Mr Abbot in court, magistrates told him:
“You could have easily caused serious damage to people, despite the advice given by the council and a Hygiene Prohibition Order is the best way of stopping you from causing damage to the public.”