‘Visibly spoiled’ food covered in ‘white mould’ led to a takeaway receiving a zero-star food hygiene rating.
Inspectors saw food being sold beyond shelf-life and said the kitchen and eating areas were dirty and in need of “thorough cleaning”.
Freedom Cafe, on Marcus Street, Birkenhead , served English Breakfast and other cooked food, until it closed just before Christmas.
The ECHO understands the cafe now has new owners who hope to reopen the business after addressing the issues in the food hygiene report.
Wirral Council’s inspectors said Freedom Cafe failed to produce hygienic and safe food.
The most worrying revelation in the report was an “opened packet of vacuum packed hot dogs” which were “visibly spoiled as there was white mould present on the surface”.
Similarly disturbing was the “opened paninis in the under counter fridge which were green and mouldy”.
This may have been caused by the takeaway’s lack of regard for shelf life.
Inspectors found several packets of ready to eat salad past their use-by date, but most foods were not labelled at all, making it impossible for inspectors to tell if the food was safe to eat or not.
The cafe’s owner was warned that it is an offence to sell food beyond its use-by date and that daily stock checks must be taken and out of date food disposed of.
Many other unhygienic practices took place at Freedom Cafe.
Chief among which was employees failing to wash their hands at regular intervals. There was also no water supply to the hand wash basin and no hand soap available either.
Inspectors criticised the premises for being dirty. One cause of this was the lack of any disinfectant or antibacterial spray at the premises.
Almost every part of the premises was unclean, from cupboards to shelves, fridges and freezers, as well as the grill, the microwave and the toaster.
The cafe was not just dirty, it was also run down.
The wooden shelving was in such a poor state that it was not capable of being cleaned properly, the floor had been fitted badly leading to dirt and grease build-ups and the sealant behind the sink was broken and needed to be replaced.
Another major safety issue was the temperature of the under counter fridges.
One fridge was at 10.4°C, well above the maximum of 8°C needed to ensure the safety of high risk foods.
The report noted the owner was told to address this at the last inspection, but failed to do so.
No-one from Freedom Cafe was available for comment.
