KFC falls foul of food hygiene laws

Slippery floors and a dirty kitchen have landed Hereford’s KFC with a hefty fine after it breached health and safety and food hygiene regulations.

The company, Kentucky Fried Chicken (Great Britain) Ltd, pleaded guilty to two charges brought under the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 for failing to keep the floor to the kitchen free from substances likely to cause a person to slip.

KFC also pleaded guilty to a third offence under food hygiene regulations for a dirty kitchen.

Hereford Magistrates today, Tuesday, September 26, fined the company £3,600 for each offence and ordered KFC to pay the council’s legal costs of  £2,710.20.

Magistrates heard that officers from Herefordshire Council’s Environmental Health and Trading Standards department visited the store, on Commercial Street, on January 11 and 31 this year.

They found a number of areas in the kitchen with liquid, grease and oil spillages on the floor which made the quarry tiled surface very slippery and potentially dangerous.

During the second visit, on January 31, officers also found the kitchen to be in an unacceptably dirty condition which included accumulations of food under work surfaces.

In its defence, the court heard that KFC had acknowledged there had been problems and had been attempting to rectify them.

They have now introduced new cleaning processes and practices and improved the training staff received.

Speaking after the hearing Herefordshire Council’s Head of Environmental Health and Trading Standards, Andy Tector, said: “We’ve had a number of complaints and incidents at this store in relation to hygiene and the slippery condition of the floor and we raised these concerns on previous occasions with the company.

“Where circumstances merit, and employers and food business operators fall foul of the law, we will have no hesitation to take firm action if that is what is required,” he added.