Lifetime food serving ban for man who served pizza containing mouse droppings
Bobby Krishna
Lifetime food serving ban for man who served pizza containing mouse droppings
THE OWNER of a Union Street takeaway has been banned for life from serving food to the public after admitting selling a pizza contaminated with poisoned mouse droppings.
Judge Paul Darlow told Pervez Alvi: "I would dearly like to hit you in the pocket" after hearing that investigating the case had cost Plymouth City Council more than £5,400.
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Pervez Alvi
But he imposed what he called "token costs" of £500 because of the "terrible" state of Alvi's finances.
Prosecutor Julia Cox told Plymouth Crown Court that on March 20, 2010, a woman bought a pizza from Favourite Pizza as a treat for her son, who had just come out of hospital.
But as they ate it, they noticed "a strange chemical taste", which turned out to be caused by mouse droppings containing rodent poison.
The woman phoned the shop and Alvi called to see her, commenting: "At least you didn't eat all of it."
He offered her £30 for the return of the pizza, but she refused and called Environmental Health.
Blue-green pellet-shaped objects in the pizza base were found to be mouse-droppings.
Inspectors attended the premises and immediately found mouse excrement in many areas, including on packaging materials and baking trays.
They also found gnawed cardboard and a hole in the skirting, while paperwork was incomplete.
He was told to clean and disinfect the premises and employ a pest controller, and next day things had greatly improved.
But a later visit found cracked tiles, a dirty hob and floor, and more mouse droppings under stainless-steel food-preparation surfaces and near a food chiller.
Miss Cox said Alvi had previous convictions in 1996 for failing to disclose bankruptcy and in 2007 for obtaining property by deception.
Kelly Scrivener, for Alvi, said the building was leased, and while Alvi had pest control, it was "woefully inadequate".
In December, the business was given a clean bill of health by the council, but folded in March this year due to publicity about the prosecution.
Alvi had since retired while his wife worked in a nursing home, she said.
They had to pay £115 a month towards debts and had been evicted due to rent arrears, so would not be able to pay full costs, she said.
Judge Darlow commented: "He serves up cooked rodent droppings and we pay the bill."
Miss Scrivener said: "His long-term punishment is the closure of his business; he is in a terrible financial situation."
Judge Darlow said: "This was a four-count indictment involving you serving up to the public the stuff of their worst nightmares: pizza with rodent droppings infected with chemicals they had ingested.
"The first thing I want to do is make sure you are never again in a position to serve food to the citizens of Plymouth or indeed anywhere else."
He imposed a community sentence with 60 hours of unpaid work and ordered Alvi to pay £500 costs within 12 months.
Alvi, aged 62 and of Rosebank, Tavistock, had admitted selling contaminated food, failing to comply with general hygiene requirements, failing to control pests and failing to maintain good repair and conditions in the shop.
No evidence was offered against his wife, co-owner Shirley Alvi, as it accepted that Alvi was most responsible for running the business.
Outside the court, Cllr Mike Leaves said: "We have a duty to protect the public from food poisoning and the sale of unfit food.
"Cases like this are extreme, however, and where there are serious breaches of food safety requirements, legal action like this will be taken.
"Plymouth City Council works hard to help businesses to maintain good standards of hygiene. We offer free advice for food businesses on how to comply with food hygiene requirements.
"Food businesses play a vital part in our economy and city life and people need to be confident in them."
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