BUSINESS partners who ran a popular Weaverham restaurant that ‘simply should not have been in business’ could now face prison over shocking food hygiene practices.

Lutfur Rahman, 47, and Abdul Helim, 44, committed ‘blatant contravention’ of food hygiene laws at Mumtaaz, in High Street, Chester Magistrates Court was told on Thursday.

Mumtaaz was ordered to close by environmental health officers following an inspection last June – before they left ‘retching and gagging’ over the smell of rancid food that was unfit for consumption.

The Indian restaurant was allowed to open four days later, but Cheshire West and Chester Council’s team found yet more cause for concern after two further visits.

Ian Moore, representing CWAC, told the court that two CWAC officers inspected the kitchen at Mumtaaz on June 25, 2018, where they found containers of mouldy food, rancid raw chicken and a pan of mouldy curry kept on the stove.

Flies were found on food in the fridge and ‘a large number’ were crawling on kitchen surfaces – including food preparation surfaces.

Mr Moore added that ‘high-risk’ food was not being kept below eight degrees Celsius as required by law – while there were ‘inadequate’ hand washing facilities, ‘very poor standards’ of cleaning and structural condition, and the restaurant was not registered as a food business with CWAC.

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He said: “On attending the premises the officers were asked if they would like a table for two, to which they declined. They conducted the inspection.

“There was a voluntary surrender of the food, and all unfit food was put in black bin bags and removed from the premises.

“The officers were retching and gagging due to the strong rancid smell from the food.”

Mumtaaz agreed to close until it was ‘fit to trade’, and Mr Helim called CWAC four days later to say the restaurant was ready for business, which officers allowed following a visit.

But after the next inspection on December 11, food hygiene standards were ‘only marginally better than in the first visit’, Mr Moore told the court.

He added: “The officers found an outside building being used to store food which was very heavily contaminated with mouse droppings on the floor.”

The outside building was ordered to close until it was cleared of pests and decontaminated, but Mumtaaz was allowed to remain open.

A third inspection followed on May 8 this year after CWAC received complaints alleging an ‘illegal gas installation’, Mr Moore told the court, and inspectors discovered an alarming lack of washing facilities.

He said: “The court is not concerned with that today, however it was obvious to the officers that precious little notice had been taken from the lessons learned on the previous visits.

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“There was no hot water and officers asked how staff were washing their hands. A pan of water at low simmer on the stove was pointed to.

“Officers – curious to know how staff washed their hands – asked for a demonstration.

“Mr Rahman proceeded to use a smaller pan to mix the hot water with cold water and poured the resulting mixture through his fingers without using any soap.

“The officers explained this was not adequate and that there must be better provision for hand washing. Mr Rahman did not appear to know how to do this and it was explained to him.

“Officers asked how equipment was washed and again the hot water in the pan was pointed to.”

Mr Moore added that inspectors also found cooked rice stored at an ‘ambient temperature’ of 13.8 degrees Celsius, raw lamb chops sitting on a yoghurt container in the fridge, raw mince stored over cooked onion bhajis in another fridge, and raw king prawns left out in an open container.

Mr Rahman, of Tower Street, Hyde, pleaded guilty to 26 charges of contravening food safety and hygiene regulations following the three inspections.

Mr Helim, of Grange Avenue, Oldham, pleaded guilty to 16 charges of contravening food safety and hygiene regulations following the first two inspections.

Those breaches include failure to have adequate procedures in place to control pests, placing unfit food on the market and failure to keep the premises clean and in sound condition.

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John Close, representing Mr Helim, said: “Mr Helim bought the property intending to set it up as a business himself, figured he was unable to do that, so it was his co-defendant [Mr Rahman] who ran the restaurant day-to-day.”

He added that Mr Helim had ‘divorced himself entirely’ from Mumtaaz by the time of the third visit in May.

Mr Rahman did not have legal representation.

“These matters are extremely serious,” said District Judge Nicholas Sanders.

“There is no doubt that this was an extreme example of a restaurant that simply should not have been in business.

“Certainly, the risks – even to a lay person – the risks of harm were very high and so was the culpability.

“Mr Rahman, I would urge you to take some legal advice. You need to understand that there are sentencing guidelines in place and this offence falls into the highest category – the starting point is nine months’ custody.”

Mr Rahman and Mr Helim are due to appear at Chester Crown Court on Thursday, September 19.