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This should be a lesson that no food business should learn the hard way: restaurant kitchens should be a no-go area for live animals… You would think that you wouldn’t need food safety training to realise that if there is a pigeon perched on the kitchen freezer then you could be heading for trouble.
A Lambeth restaurant was caught out, however, when council inspectors visited in order to carry out an inspection of the premises. The presence of the pigeon on the freezer was not the only blatant breach of food hygiene standards, though.
There were signs that cockroaches and mice had also set up home in the kitchen which supplied food to another restaurant. Contaminated bags of flour, dirty and greasy surfaces confirmed the opinion of inspectors that this establishment posed a significant risk to consumers’ health, and the restaurant was closed down and the owners prosecuted.
The food safety breaches resulted in fines of four thousand pounds, while the owners have also been ordered to nearly two and half thousand pounds in court costs.
Pests can carry and pass on serious disease, and pigeons in particular are carriers of pathogenic bacteria that can cause serious health problems. If you notice the signs of pest infestation (like pigeons roosting on your freezer), it’s time to call in pest control before the inspectors call.