A Coventry food business operator has been given a 12-month conditional discharge after pleading guilty to food hygiene offences.
Mrs Liang Zheng, the former Food Business Operator of Chef Wang, 4 Torrington Avenue, Coventry pleaded guilty to 3 hygiene offences at Coventry Magistrates Court on 12 March 2025.
Mrs Zheng was given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay costs of £3,377.58 as well as a victim surcharge of £26.
Food & Safety Officers visited the business to undertake an unannounced food hygiene inspection on 7 June 2023. During this visit, filthy conditions were found throughout the kitchen. The standard of cleaning was well below standard – both day to day cleaning such as touch points, as well as deeper cleaning.
Officers found:
- Wash hand basins were not in use, either being obstructed or not provided with soap and hygienic hand drying facilities.
- Dirty and deteriorated cloths were in use for cleaning.
- Staff not wearing clean protective clothing.
- Flies throughout the food preparation and handling areas.
Officers worked with the food business to ensure conditions were improved and it was safe to operate.
On 27 July 2023 following a paid for request for a re-rating revisit, a rating of 3 (hygiene standards are generally satisfactory) was achieved.
When questioned about the poor conditions found in June 2023, Mrs Zheng did not appear to understand the gravity of the situation and did not think the conditions found by officers were poor, thus demonstrating that Mrs Zheng’s baseline cleaning standards do not match those of food hygiene law.
Mrs Zheng pleaded guilty to three offences under the Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations in respect of the following identified issues:
• Failure to keep the premises clean.
• Failure to protect food from contamination.
• Failure to implement and maintain a permanent procedure or procedures based on the HACCP (Hazard Analysis of Critical Control Points) principles.
The business has been subject to several inspections since the poor conditions were found in 2023.
In June 2024, an unannounced food hygiene inspection led to a rating of 1 (major improvement is necessary) being issued and following payment for a rating revisit, a further unannounced inspection was carried out in August 2024 which resulted in a food hygiene rating of 4 (hygiene standards are good).
Councillor Khan, Cabinet Member for Policing and Equalities said:
“It is vital that people running food businesses in Coventry are running clean and safe establishments all of the time to ensure the safety of the food they sell to customers.”
“This is a reminder to all Food Business Operators to ensure they have a clean kitchen with suitably trained staff undertaking regular and thorough cleaning every day to prevent a problem like this occurring and putting customers at a risk to their health”
Davina Blackburn, Strategic Lead for Regulation and Communities in the city, said:
“We take a staged approach to enforcement and prosecution is a matter of last resort. Wherever possible officers will always try to work with businesses offering advice and guidance but will take the necessary actions if they feel there is a risk to health.”
We would encourage all residents to report unsatisfactory food hygiene conditions found in food businesses in Coventry to ehcommercial@coventry.gov.uk or call 08085834333.