Custodial Sentence for owner of pizza shop

The owner of a filthy, mice infested pizza shop in Walsall has been jailed for six months after admitting 10 separate food and hygiene offences.

Inspectors found mouse excrement on the kebab machine, plates and shelving, under the front counter, behind the chest freezer and all over the floor of Pizza Cottage in Walsall. 

Muhammad Khan, aged 29, was committed to Wolverhampton Crown Court because of his ‘flagrant disregard of the law’. 

As well as finding evidence of vermin in the serving and storage areas, environmental health officers discovered droppings in the main food preparation area – even on an open fridge containing uncovered pizza toppings, and on top of greasy and dirty plastic containers of spice.

Laura Shirley, food safety specialist in Harrison Clark Rickerbys’ regulatory team, said: “This case is the latest of a number of recent food hygiene prosecutions which demonstrates the changing approach of the courts when dealing with food hygiene offences. Custodial sentences are now a real possibility for those cases at the most serious end of the scale.”