The former owner of a fast food outlet in England linked to a Salmonella outbreak last year has received a suspended six month prison sentence.

Eight people had acute food poisoning and one patient’s symptoms were so severe that he suffered renal failure, needed critical care, and spent two weeks in hospital.

Muhammed Abdul Moueed Khan, the former owner of Peri Peri Chicken, One Call Blakenall in Walsall, was sentenced for serious food hygiene breaches. He pleaded guilty to six separate offences at Wolverhampton Magistrates Court in September.

It is the second conviction for Khan and is less than a year after Walsall Council prosecuted him and he served six months in prison for food hygiene offences at another of his food outlets Pizza Cottage Caldmore Road, Walsall. Khan had been banned as a food operator after he received this prison sentence in March 2018.

Councilor Garry Perry at Walsall Council said the judgement reinforces how important the safe preparation and cooking of food is and he urged people to check hygiene ratings before they buy.

“These breaches had serious consequences to his customers and Muhammed Abdul Moueed Khan demonstrated a flagrant disregard for even the minimum standards of safety,” he said.

“Environmental Health regulations are in place to protect the public. We always work with businesses to help them understand their responsibilities, but we will pursue them through the courts if they fail to take these important responsibilities seriously.”

Walsall Council’s Environmental Health department was told by Public Health England (PHE) of a patient being treated at hospital for suspected food poisoning. Enquiries suggested the patient’s wife and another family had been ill after consuming food from Blakenall One Call.

Walsall Council Environmental Health Officers visited the One Call premises in July 2017. Swabs were taken from the shop’s donner kebab cutter, chopping board and an electric knife used for cutting poultry. Samples from a dirty shop sponge were also sent for laboratory analysis.

Results showed that Salmonella was present in the swabs and the strain of bacteria matched patient and hospital samples. Lab testing of foodstuffs was negative for pathogens but plate cultures from environmental swabs identified Salmonella Enteritis on a kitchen sponge, a food preparation sink and the donner kebab cutter.

The inspection found Food Safety Management Systems were not being maintained. There were no written records confirming that checks had been done since Oct. 2016.

Khan, who appeared at Wolverhampton Crown Court, was also given a six month tagging order from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and told to pay costs of £772.20 ($985) to victims for expenses they incurred due to the poisoning.

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