A Bangladeshi Indian takeout in Wirral has been ordered to pay £8,075 over two years after a customer became very ill and vomited after eating a veggie korma.Babul Khan, its owner, entered a guilty plea to eight food safety-related offenses in June and was given a sentence at the Liverpool, Knowsley, and St Helens Magistrates' Court on November 21. For around 12 years, Mr. Khan has operated the Spicy Kitchen takeaway restaurant located at 128 Greasby Road in Greasby. Although the court heard that Mr. Khan manages the day-to-day operations of the takeaway with the help of his two sons, Spicy Kitchen (NW) Ltd is owned and operated by Mr. Khan and his wife, Saleha Khan.However in 2023, Antonia Brenton ordered a takeaway from the restaurant while visiting her family on the Wirral ahead of a wedding. The court heard she has a severe, potentially life-threatening peanut allergy and is an EpiPen carrier.
Ken Abraham, prosecuting on behalf of Wirral Council which enforces trading standards, said Ms Brenton phoned up the takeaway herself requesting that a vegetable korma, a plain poppadom, and a plain rice were kept peanut free and received assurances it would be safe for her to eat.However the court heard Ms Brenton had some of the poppadom and two spoonfuls of the vegetable korma but as she went to swallow some rice, she immediately knew something was wrong. Her gums, lips, and tongue swelled up and her face went red.Ms Brenton took antihistamines to try and calm the reaction but was left vomiting and retching. She was ill until the next day affecting the wedding.
Following this, Mr Abraham said Ms Brenton contacted the business to tell them what happened but she was initially told she must not have specified it was a peanut free meal. She then complained to Wirral Council on August 16, 2023 who investigated and ordered the same takeaway as Ms Brenton.
When picking up the order, trading standards officer Alison Harvey told Mr Khan, who was running the business by himself that day, the reason for her visit and took a sample from the curry. Lab tests found 103mg of peanut protein whereas guidelines are 0.3mg.Mr Abraham said the council found no evidence to show staff had been trained about allergens or proper food management systems in place with the risk of cross contamination being high. While a notice in the shop told people to alert staff to allergens, the council said there was no reminder of this to people ordering online and it was the responsibility of staff to ask customers both at order and collection.
The local authority then tried to work with the business over several months but another visit in March 2024 found little progress and Spice Kitchen still couldn’t offer allergen meals with any degree of certainty.
A letter was sent on March 12 reminding the business of its responsibilities and the court heard staff training eventually took place on May 14 and 16, months after the initial complaint.
Mr Abraham said this raised serious concerns and failings by the takeaway to address health and safety issues and argued it was category 1 harm, the most severe. He said it could be argued the premises “was motivated by financial gain which outweighed the risk prevalent of not providing a peanut free meal which could have had dire consequences.”
However he pointed out Mr Khan had no previous convictions, had cooperated with the investigation and taken responsibility for the offences.Wirral Globe
Wirral takeaway fined £8,075 for food safety issues
8 hrs ago
Business
By Ed Barnes, local democracy reporter
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Spicy Kitchen in Greasby. Credit: Google Street View
Spicy Kitchen in Greasby. Credit: Google Street View
A Wirral takeaway has been told it has to pay £8,075 over two years after a vegetable korma left one customer vomiting and seriously ill.
Its owner Babul Khan plead guilty to eight offences related to food safety regulations in June and was sentenced on November 21 at Liverpool, Knowsley, and St Helens Magistrates' Court.
Mr Khan has run the Spicy Kitchen takeaway restaurant at 128 Greasby Road in Greasby for around 12 years.
The takeaway is run by Spicy Kitchen (NW) Ltd with two directors, Mr Khan and his wife Saleha Khan, though the court heard Mr Khan runs the business day to day with the support of his two sons.
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However in 2023, Antonia Brenton ordered a takeaway from the restaurant while visiting her family on the Wirral ahead of a wedding. The court heard she has a severe, potentially life-threatening peanut allergy and is an EpiPen carrier.
Ken Abraham, prosecuting on behalf of Wirral Council which enforces trading standards, said Ms Brenton phoned up the takeaway herself requesting that a vegetable korma, a plain poppadom, and a plain rice were kept peanut free and received assurances it would be safe for her to eat.
However the court heard Ms Brenton had some of the poppadom and two spoonfuls of the vegetable korma but as she went to swallow some rice, she immediately knew something was wrong. Her gums, lips, and tongue swelled up and her face went red.
Ms Brenton took antihistamines to try and calm the reaction but was left vomiting and retching. She was ill until the next day affecting the wedding.
Following this, Mr Abraham said Ms Brenton contacted the business to tell them what happened but she was initially told she must not have specified it was a peanut free meal. She then complained to Wirral Council on August 16, 2023 who investigated and ordered the same takeaway as Ms Brenton.
When picking up the order, trading standards officer Alison Harvey told Mr Khan, who was running the business by himself that day, the reason for her visit and took a sample from the curry. Lab tests found 103mg of peanut protein whereas guidelines are 0.3mg.
Mr Abraham said the council found no evidence to show staff had been trained about allergens or proper food management systems in place with the risk of cross contamination being high. While a notice in the shop told people to alert staff to allergens, the council said there was no reminder of this to people ordering online and it was the responsibility of staff to ask customers both at order and collection.
The local authority then tried to work with the business over several months but another visit in March 2024 found little progress and Spice Kitchen still couldn’t offer allergen meals with any degree of certainty.
A letter was sent on March 12 reminding the business of its responsibilities and the court heard staff training eventually took place on May 14 and 16, months after the initial complaint.
Mr Abraham said this raised serious concerns and failings by the takeaway to address health and safety issues and argued it was category 1 harm, the most severe. He said it could be argued the premises “was motivated by financial gain which outweighed the risk prevalent of not providing a peanut free meal which could have had dire consequences.”
However he pointed out Mr Khan had no previous convictions, had cooperated with the investigation and taken responsibility for the offences.
Dom McNaab, representing Mr Khan, however disputed the business was motivated for financial reasons given its turnover and language may have been an issue. Mr Khan required an interpreter in court.
Mr McNaab pointed to Ms Brenton’s statement which said she took herself off to bed after taking an antihistamine as well as Mr Khan’s guilty pleas.
He said information about allergens now appeared on its website next to its menu, adding: “The staff have completed training and reasonable adjustments have been made to prevent a recurrence.”
Mr McNaab added: “Unlike very many people, he hadn’t sought to apply for a COVID loan even though he was eligible. He is a hard working individual and he bitterly regrets this incident.” He asked District Judge Wendy Lloyd to take into account the company’s finances as “it is a small company and he will struggle.”
In reaching her verdict, Judge Lloyd said the case was “troubling” arguing the sale of food was not a simple matter and potentially dangerous, adding: “This isn’t red tape or bureaucracy. It’s a matter of life or death potentially.”
She said Ms Brenton had been careful about what she ordered and was reassured it would not contain any peanuts giving her a false sense of security, adding: “Fortunately although a very distressing episode, she was able to recognise the symptoms and deal with them.“She must have been very frightened and she had the added pressure that she was in the area for a wedding and had to attend the wedding feeling quite ill. She informed Mr Khan at the shop what had happened but regrettably she was initially accused of lying saying she hadn’t bought a peanut free meal.”
She said cross contamination was high in the takeaway and the lab results had shown very high levels of contamination with systems in place not being good enough. Regarding Mr Khan working solo on the day of the test purchase, Judge Lloyd said: “If there is a staff shortage and the premises can’t be run safely, there is no excuse.”
In coming to her decision, she said she took into account Mr Khan had plead guilty early avoiding a waste of public money as well as the companies turnover. While she acknowledged the takeaway had taken steps to improve, she said it was disappointing to see it took months and an incident like Ms Brenton’s to bring in staff proper allergen training.
However she added: “The fact it’s a small family business isn’t itself some kind of excuse. The same standards are still expected of a small business like this as are expected of the most splendid restaurants in the land.”
Mr Khan pled guilty to six personal offences as well as two on behalf of Spicy Kitchen (NW) Ltd. For the six offences, fines of £400 each were awarded and £200 for the two business related offences.
A victim surcharge was also awarded taking the total to £4,200. As for Wirral Council’s costs, the judge said she saw “no reason why the council taxpayers of Wirral should have to pay for this in any way” which increased the total by £3,875.
This brought the total to £8,075 which will be paid over two years at a rate of £350 a month.
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