FOOD hygiene breaches - including one in which out-of-date food was sold and another in which pests were found on the premises - have landed two Gwent business owners in hot water.

Kelvin Silcox, food business operator at Mr T’s Food Stall on Usk Island Picnic Site, Usk, pleaded guilty to a number of charges of failing to comply with community provision with food hygiene after rats or pests were found on the premises.

Court records show he breaches related to an incident on February 11, 2020, in which he "failed to ensure, as is reasonably practicable, that the premises was so sited, designed, constructed and kept clean and maintained in good repair and condition as to avoid the risk of contamination, in particular by animals and pests, in that rats/pests had access to the mobile food unit".

He pleaded guilty on October 21 at Newport Magistrates Court and was fined £200 and ordered to pay a £100 surcharge and £350 costs.

He was also fined £200 for "failing to ensure that foodstuffs were to be placed to avoid the risk of contamination so far as is reasonably practicable, in that rats/pests had access to the mobile food unit to areas where foodstuffs were stored and prepared".

There was another £200 fine for failing to ensure adequate procedures were put in place to control pests, while another £200 fine was also given for "failing to put in place, implement and maintain a permanent procedure or procedures based on the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point principles" after the unit was found to be contaminated from rats/pests accessing the unit.

There was also no appropriate cleaning present or adequate handwashing facilities to prevent cross-contamination.

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Marion Baker, 59, pleaded guilty to a number of food hygiene charges including selling out-of-date food at the Chainbridge Inn in Usk.

She appeared at Newport Magistrates Court on October 21, where she was fined £1,000 for failing to ensure that articles which came in contact with food were being kept clean and effectively cleaned as well as being kept in good condition to minimise risk of contamination. It relates to an incident on August 29, 2019.

She was also ordered to pay £100 surcharge and £900 costs.

She received no further penalty after four out-of-date packs of Fresh Mixed Grill 20oz, two mouldy potatoes, two tubs of homemade bolognese mix in mouldy condition, homemade lightly spiced veg soup in mouldy condition, two expired Activia yogurts, an expired Co-Op “Greens and Grains”, an expired 2kg pack of minced beef, expired open pack of washed salad leaves, homecooked ham in "a foul-smelling and rancid condition’ and homemade tuna mayonnaise in ‘slimy, rancid condition" were found.

There was also no separate penalty issued for not ensuring that the food premises was kept in a good and clean condition, failing to put in place, implement and maintain a permanent procedure or procedures based on the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point principles.