A CAFE was closed down due to a mice infestation and a “gross failure to achieve acceptable hygiene standards.”

The owner of the Manolia Shawerma on Gresham Road, Middlesbrough, has now been fined for hygiene offences at Teesside Magistrates Court although the cafe has re-opened.

Middlesbrough Borough Council’s trading standards officers used their powers under the Food Safety and Hygiene Act of 2013 to shut the café in November in order to protect public health.

The business remained was allowed to re-open a week later but owner Shafek Kader Raoof was charged with failing to keep his premises clean, failing to ensure that adequate procedures were in place to control pests, and failing to ensure that foods were protected against risk of contamination.

Appearing before Teesside Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday Mr Raoof entered guilty pleas. He was fined £165 and ordered to pay £389 towards the Council’s costs, plus a £20 victim surcharge.

Environmental Health Manager Judith Hedgley said: “Where there is evidence of rodent activity together with poor standards of cleanliness, immediate action must be taken to protect public health. The conditions in this food business highlighted a gross failure in management to achieve acceptable hygiene standards.”

Councillor Julia Rostron, Middlesbrough Council’s Executive Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health, said: “Food businesses must be kept clean and free from pests at all times. The public and the Council expect all food businesses to produce safe food that is prepared in a clean hygienic environment. More than 97 per cent of food businesses in Middlesbrough demonstrate good standards of hygiene and food safety and they achieve a hygiene rating of 3, 4 or 5. In fact, more than 85 per cent of businesses in Middlesbrough have been awarded the top 5 hygiene rating.”