AN Indian restaurant has been fined more than £5,000 after serving a 17-year-old boy with an allergy a dish containing peanuts.

The teenager was admitted to hospital to be treated for anaphylaxis, a life threatening allergic reaction, after earlier being assured his chicken bhuna dish contained no peanuts.

Jolsha Limited, in Norton, Stockton, was ordered to pay £5,329 in fines at Teesside Magistrates Court after its director Shamim Ahmed pleaded guilty on behalf of the company to food safety offences.

The court heard how the teenager had visited the Harland Place restaurant for a meal with his parents on 26 April last year.

The manager assured his parents that only masala dishes were made with peanuts after his parents explained their son was allergic to them. Later that night he became unwell.

Jolsha was reported to Stockton Bolrough Council's trading standards team, and they had a food safety analyst to check one of its chicken bhuna dishes, which was found to contain a small amount of peanut protein.

When the restaurant's store cupboard was checked, a tub labelled "ground nut mix (peanut and almond)" was identified by the chef as being almond powder. He said an open container of the powder was kept in the kitchen.

The analyst said an open tub of peanut powder could contaminate other ingredients in the food preparation area.

Simon Catterall, mitigating, said Jolsha apologised to the victim, co-operated with the investigation and that staff had attended food allergy awareness training courses recommended by Stockton council. Steps have been taken to ensure the premises are peanut free.

After the case, he told The Northern Echo: "The company is mortified over this incident and apologises unreservedly to this young man and his family.

"The possibility of this kind of allergic reaction was put at one in one hundred by the council's own expert but albeit the tiniest of chances it should not have been there.

"Jolsha will learn from this error and you will not see them in Court again."

Mr Ahmed admitted two offences contrary to section 14 (1) of The Food Safety Act 1990 and two offences contrary to Regulation 19 (1) and Schedule 2 of the Food Safety and Hygiene (England Regulations) 2013.

District Judge Kristina Harrison imposed a £3,000 fine for one of the Food Safety and Hygiene Regulations 2013, with no separate penalty for the other three offences. Jolsha was also ordered to pay £500 compensation o the victim and prosecution costs of £1,829.