MOULDY food and other health and safety breaches at a former takeaway in the town centre left its former owner with a bill of £6,000.

Gulstan Mahmood, 30, the former owner of Princeton’s Grill, in Market Street, was prosecuted after Swindon Council found mould growing on pizza sauce, grated cheese and an ‘unidentified food’.

Yesterday at Swindon Magistrates’ Court, he was fined a total of £2,900 and told to pay £3,087 costs, plus a £15 victim surcharge, after pleading guilty to 10 charges. The maximum fine is £110,000.

Phil Wirth, prosecuting, said: “It was clear to the officers that Mr Mahmood has a poor understanding of his obligations to maintain the appropriate level of food hygiene within the premises.

“These offences relate to matters affecting public health and safety, failing to comply with requirements of food safety and health and safety regulations, exposing the public to significant health risks.”

Mr Wirth said officers conducted a routine food hygiene inspection at the premises at about 2.15pm on January 14, 2010, and took photographs of what they found.

In the rear storage area within an upright double fridge, they found a putrefying lettuce stored in a cardboard box, a tin of pizza sauce and out-of-date double cream. There was a chest freezer containing raw, uncovered chickens in a plastic bucket, placed above grated cheese and cooked chicken pieces, which officers feared could lead to cross-contamination.

In the front customer and servery area, they found mouldy unidentified food in the fridge, as well as mouldy grated cheese in a plastic container and a mouldy cheese slice in a polystyrene container in the display counter.

A meat shaver and a knife were on cardboard and plastic packaging, which was unsuitable as a food surface as it was not possible to maintain and would be difficult to keep clean.

In the kitchen, the problems discovered included screws, nails, washers and other items in a blue crate stored on a bench used for preparing fried chicken pieces.

Officers noticed that a member of staff was not wearing protective overclothing, and the Safer Food Better Business pack found on site was blank and therefore there was no evidence that the proprietor had implemented a food safety management system.

The mouldy food was sent for testing and was found to be ‘unfit for human consumption’.

In interview, Mahmood, of Ridgefield Road, Oxford, explained he had once been a manager at a pizza chain and had completed a food hygiene course in Oxford. He said he worked full-time as a postmaster in Oxfordshire and had employed another person to manage the Swindon takeaway in his absence.

He agreed that the situation was unacceptable and said he had believed his employee was appropriately trained and knew what to do.

Richard Williams, defending, said: “He does accept full responsibility but he failed to supervise adequately. The offences are therefore offences of omission rather than deliberate acts.”

Princeton’s Grill closed soon after the inspection and the unit has since been replaced by another business.