AN INDIAN restaurant has been cleared of charges that it knowingly serving food containing peanuts when it was labelled as containing only almonds.

Askir Ali, owner of Amontola Tandoori Restaurant in Queens Road, Richmond, denied labelling food on his menu in a misleading manner and of selling food not of the quality required by the customer.

Trading Standards officers visited the restaurant on March 6, 2014, and took a sample of a chicken tikka passanda, as well as a sample of the ground nuts used to make the dish.

Angela Lacy, from North Yorkshire County Council Trading Standards, said she requested that the dish contained no peanuts – but after analysis it was found to contain 20mg of peanut per kg, enough to cause an allergic reaction.

During a trial at Northallerton Magistrates’ Court on Friday, March 13, Mr Ali, who was representing himself, said he took all possible steps to ensure he had acted diligently when he noticed his supplier had changed the packaging of almond powder.

Mr Ali, 35, of Idle Road, Bradford, contacted the supplier, the now bankrupt Ahmed Valley Foods, who assured him it was almond rather than mixed nuts, and he tested the nuts by cooking two dishes, finding no difference.

But Rebecca Brown, prosecuting, said Mr Ali should not have used the nuts if he was unsure about what they contained.

She said: “More evidence could have been submitted by Mr Ali, perhaps a letter or explanation from Ahmed Valley Foods to back up Mr Ali’s statement that he contacted them to ask for better labelling."

But magistrates found in favour of Mr Ali, with chairman of the bench Nigel Tapley awarding him costs of £500.

Mr Tapley added: “He is a man of good character and we believe it is not unreasonable for a business to trust its supplier.”