Adam Halal Foods Ltd was charged with failing to ensure meat was kept at the correct temperature at its cutting plant and cold store in Birmingham.
The company appeared before Birmingham Magistrates Court on August 2, following two inspections by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) on May 31 and September 8 last year.
Fined the company £60,000
The Court fined the company £60,000 and ordered it to pay the FSA’s costs of £8,043.74, plus an additional £120 victim surcharge.
Speaking after the hearing, FSA chairman Heather Hancock said: “The FSA takes these breaches of food safety regulations very seriously. We welcome this substantial fine for these totally unacceptable hygiene breaches.
“This sends a clear message to other plants that fail to uphold the required standards of food safety: we will investigate and we will look to prosecute.”
The prosecution followed a series of fines for food safety offences over the past six months.
Pay almost £44,000 in fines
In May, food processor POE Ltd was ordered to pay almost £44,000 in fines and costs, after the company and its director were convicted of a series of meat hygiene offences.
March saw a Gloucestershire butcher fined more than £54,000 for seven food hygiene offences, while Cairns Oatcakes was closed for a second time this year, after investigators found filthy work surfaces and mouldy growth.
Meanwhile, this week saw Pearl Food Distribution Ltd fined £12,000, after hygiene inspectors discovered rat and mouse droppings and gnawed food at its warehouse in Oldbury in the West Midlands.