Nasty find in sweet and sour sauce!

[waichingliu81]

Chinese restaurant shut after mouse is found swimming in the sweet and sour
Felix Allen
27.07.10

Health inspectors saw a mouse swimming in a portion of sweet and sour sauce about to be served to customers during an inspection of a Chinese restaurant.

They photographed the rodent as it jumped out of the bowl and scampered along a draining pipe in the kitchen of the Kam Tong restaurant.

But there were more shocks in store for them in the Kam Tong and two other restaurants, the Hung Tao and Kiasu, all owned by Ronald Lim in Queensway, Bayswater. They were crawling with cockroaches whose eggs were found in the dim sum and baskets of prawn crackers.

Mice droppings were found all over the kitchens including inside the fridges and on crockery, soy sauce containers and a chopping board next to some meat.

The hygiene was so appalling that the ventilation canopy in one of the restaurants was “oozing with grease”, Southwark crown court heard.
All three restaurants situated within yards of each other were shut down between May and August 2008.

Photographs taken at the time also show cockroaches living in fridge seals, a tub of filthy water next to the cookers. The kitchens were also covered in grease and grime, with cracked tiles and stained walls.

Lim was arrested and admitted 17 counts of breaching food hygiene regulations.

Judge Geoffrey Rivlin, QC, said the conditions that environmental officers from Westminster council found were “disgraceful” and branded them an “appalling risk” to the safety of customers.

He said: “Thankfully there is no evidence before me of actual illness being suffered by your customers.”

The restaurants have since reopened and are being closely monitored by the council.

The judge added: “In my judgment there is still some way to go before they could be regarded with complete confidence as exposing the public to no risk at all.”

Lim, of Barnet, was given an eight-month jail term suspended for two years.
He was also ordered to pay fines totalling £30,000 plus £18,131 costs. The judge said if he had not pleaded guilty he would have gone to prison immediately.

The restaurant boss has three months to improve standards before a decision is made whether to ban him from operating a catering business altogether. If he does not come up to scratch he could be jailed for 18 months.

Councillor Brian Connell said: “This is an appalling catalogue of offences and gives an otherwise good industry a bad name.”

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standa...-sour-sauce.do

[PZelda]

OMFG. That is just DISGUSTING. Health inspectors around here give restaurants here hell if they've found to not be up to 100% health code standards. But one thing that's for sure, we don't have any restaurants like that around here! (dear god, I hope not!) Just... How the **** was this owner OK with this in the first place? DISGUSTING.

[catlover79]

Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww...

[Mr. Television]

Sweet and Sour Mice. We don't have that on the menu here.

[catlover79]

Originally Posted by Stuck In The '70's

Sweet and Sour Mice. We don't have that on the menu here.

Sounds like a Brothers Grimm story.

[Cactus Jack]

Reminds me of Mouse Hunt LOL

[Lee]

Originally Posted by waichingliu81

Chinese restaurant shut after mouse is found swimming in the sweet and sour
Felix Allen
27.07.10

Health inspectors saw a mouse swimming in a portion of sweet and sour sauce about to be served to customers during an inspection of a Chinese restaurant.

They photographed the rodent as it jumped out of the bowl and scampered along a draining pipe in the kitchen of the Kam Tong restaurant.

But there were more shocks in store for them in the Kam Tong and two other restaurants, the Hung Tao and Kiasu, all owned by Ronald Lim in Queensway, Bayswater. They were crawling with cockroaches whose eggs were found in the dim sum and baskets of prawn crackers.

Mice droppings were found all over the kitchens including inside the fridges and on crockery, soy sauce containers and a chopping board next to some meat.

The hygiene was so appalling that the ventilation canopy in one of the restaurants was “oozing with grease”, Southwark crown court heard.
All three restaurants situated within yards of each other were shut down between May and August 2008.

Photographs taken at the time also show cockroaches living in fridge seals, a tub of filthy water next to the cookers. The kitchens were also covered in grease and grime, with cracked tiles and stained walls.

Lim was arrested and admitted 17 counts of breaching food hygiene regulations.

Judge Geoffrey Rivlin, QC, said the conditions that environmental officers from Westminster council found were “disgraceful” and branded them an “appalling risk” to the safety of customers.

He said: “Thankfully there is no evidence before me of actual illness being suffered by your customers.”

The restaurants have since reopened and are being closely monitored by the council.

The judge added: “In my judgment there is still some way to go before they could be regarded with complete confidence as exposing the public to no risk at all.”

Lim, of Barnet, was given an eight-month jail term suspended for two years.
He was also ordered to pay fines totalling £30,000 plus £18,131 costs. The judge said if he had not pleaded guilty he would have gone to prison immediately.

The restaurant boss has three months to improve standards before a decision is made whether to ban him from operating a catering business altogether. If he does not come up to scratch he could be jailed for 18 months.

Councillor Brian Connell said: “This is an appalling catalogue of offences and gives an otherwise good industry a bad name.”

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standa...-sour-sauce.do

This happened 2 years ago. Why are you just now posting this story?

Anyway, this is the most disgusting thing I have ever heard of!

[Zoneboy]

Originally Posted by Lee

This happened 2 years ago. Why are you just now posting this story?

The date of the story is 7-27-2010 so don't blame waichingliu81 just because the news of this is just now being made public.

[Lee]

Originally Posted by Zoneboy

The date of the story is 7-27-2010 so don't blame waichingliu81 just because the news of this is just now being made public.

I was not aware that the story had just now been made public-sorry.

[OH Nuts!]

Ghastly finding and story. Ugh - makes me want to swear of Chinese food permanently. But sadly, what goes on in many restaurant kitchens is probably pretty scary. When I eat out (which I don't do that much of lately), I cross my fingers and take my cues from how clean the rest rooms are. (Usually that's a good barometer of cleanliness.)

[OH Nuts!]

Ghastly finding and story. Ugh - makes me want to swear of Chinese food permanently. But sadly, what goes on in many restaurant kitchens is probably pretty scary. When I eat out (which I don't do that much of lately), I cross my fingers and take my cues from how clean the rest rooms are. (Usually that's a good barometer of cleanliness.)

[waichingliu81]

Originally Posted by Lee

This happened 2 years ago. Why are you just now posting this story?

Anyway, this is the most disgusting thing I have ever heard of!

like charles said the decision by the court was made publicly in the news recently. i think the health inspectors took a few months putting together the evidence they found and presented the findings to the judge.