Fast food chain Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) has been fined £19,000 for breaches of hygiene regulations.

The Press Association reports that the restaurant was prosecuted for hygiene breaches after health inspectors spotted a cockroach eating a chip in one of the busiest outlets of KFC – situated near London’s Leicester Square – during a routine inspection in August 2008.

The cockroach was on the food dispensing counter near takeaway boxes when it was spotted by an environmental health officer. Environmental health officers also saw a mouse in the restaurant, as well as flies and dried chicken blood on the floor.

KFC – based in Woking, Surrey – pleaded guilty at a hearing in April to failing to keep the premises clean, not keeping the building ‘maintained and in good repair’ – and ‘not having adequate procedures in place to prevent pest control’.

The company also admitted failing to ensure that the ‘layout, design and construction permitted good food hygiene practices’ – and failing to ensure that ‘materials for cleaning hands were available at hand basins’.

On Monday (10/05/10) at City of London Magistrates’ Court, KFC pleaded guilty to the five breaching of hygiene regulations after the inspection in 2008. District Judge Howard Riddle fined KFC £11,000, with £7,927.80 costs and a £15 victim surcharge.

Michael Goodwin, prosecuting, said:

‘There was no soap in the ground-floor food preparation room so – on the day of the inspection at least – it was not possible for food preparation staff to wash their hands properly.

‘KFC accepts the condition that has been described to you,’ he told the hearing. ‘They fell below their own high standards and below legal standards.’

The company had been issued with a warning from Westminster Council over concerns about hygiene practices four months before the inspection.

The company’s representative in court said that, since the inspection, ‘an outside contractor employed to deal with pest control problems has had its hire agreement with KFC terminated across the UK’.

He added that, on the day of inspection, an employee had ‘simply forgotten to refill the soap in the dispensers in the preparation room’ – and added that there were ‘still places where hands could be washed’.

Since the inspection, the Coventry Street premises in the heart of London’s West End has undergone refurbishment costing £600,000. A total of 65 staff work there, covering shifts from 10am to 3am.

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