A FORMER food wholesaler must pay a £600 fine and £4,000 in court costs for repeatedly breaking a prohibition notice from food hygiene inspectors.

On January 28 2019, Swindon Borough Council gave Memet Edikci, of Commercial Road, a hygiene emergency prohibition notice which immediately closed his business after finding evidence of a rat infestation in the food wholesaler Melisa Foods on Aylesbury Street.

The environmental health team saw a large amount of rat droppings, nesting material, gnawed food and damaged food packaging inside the building along with nibbled paperwork and boxes of carrier bags which would be used by customers for ready-to-eat food.

Magistrates later ordered that the business stay closed after two more visits to the property proved that the health risks had not changed.

At the time, Edikci confirmed that the evidence presented by the council's solicitor was correct and apologised to the court for the condition of his premises.

Now, more than two years later, the 58-year-old was sentenced at Swindon Magistrates Court earlier this month after pleading guilty on September 28 2021 to breaching the hygiene order several times after it had been issued.

Between January 28 and 31 2019, he accessed the roof of the office via an unsecured ladder and removed equipment, food, food containers and other items from the non-working chiller which stored them.

Then he continued to run the food business from the premises until February 2 2019 despite the hygiene order banning him from doing so until he received a certificate which would give him permission.

At some point between the order being served on January 28 and February 28 and April 4, he accessed the mezzanine floor and used the office.

On March 27, he failed to arrange thorough inspections of the electrical system installed at the trading premises and of the roof to determine whether it was structurally sound, and failed to submit a written report to the council about the inspections.

After the council closed the business in January 2019, Coun Cathy Martin said: “It is cases like this which highlight the importance of the council’s food hygiene team.

"Had our officers not carried out this routine inspection, this business would have carried on operating and ultimately putting people’s health at risk."