Food business fined over £29,000 for serious hygiene breaches
A Stevenage food business has been fined more than £29,000 after pleading guilty to multiple food hygiene offences at Stevenage Magistrates’ Court.
On Friday 9 January, sentencing took place against the food business operator of Ehi Afro Caribbean Foods, based at 20 Market Place, Stevenage. The case followed a hearing on Friday 28 November, when Mr Scott Godwin, Director of Vitago Foods Multi International Ltd, pleaded guilty to six charges on behalf of the company and seven charges personally.
The offences related to serious breaches of food hygiene regulations, including failing to keep the premises clean, repackaging food where there was evidence of rat contamination, inadequate traceability of foodstuffs and furnishing false information to a council officer.
The prosecution was brought by Stevenage Borough Council’s Environmental Health team, supported by Hertfordshire County Council Legal Services.
The company, Vitago Foods Multi International Ltd, was fined £2,000 for each offence, ordered to pay the council’s full costs of £9,626.84, and a £2,000 victim surcharge was applied.
Mr Godwin was personally fined £750 for each of six food offences, along with a further £1,000 fine for obstruction.
In total, the business and its operator were ordered to pay £29,126.84.
Councillor Rob Broom, Executive Member for Environment and Climate Change said:
“Selling food where packaging has been contaminated with rat urine carries serious health risks. Storing food in this way also attracts pests into the surrounding area, causing problems for neighbouring businesses and residents.
“The obstruction offence relates to a failure to provide officers with the information they need to carry out their duties. The council will use its enforcement powers where advice and guidance are not followed.
“The level of fines imposed by the court reflects the seriousness of these offences. This legal action followed repeated informal advice, written warnings and formal notices. The total cost to the business could have been avoided had the council’s advice been acted upon at an early stage.”
Further background information
- Stevenage Borough Council carried out routine food hygiene inspections at the premises over a number of years and provided advice at each stage.
- Where improvements were not made, the council followed its enforcement hierarchy, issuing improvement notices with only minimal compliance achieved.
- The council previously worked with other agencies, including Trading Standards, in relation to concerns at the shop.
- The offences relate to incidents between December 2024 and February 2025.
- Following a complaint from a resident about rats behind the premises, officers carried out a further inspection and found:
- dirty structure and equipment
- repackaging of food in unclean conditions with evidence of pests
- a shop layout that did not support good hygiene practices
- inadequately labelled food, preventing traceability
- food past its use-by date
- a lack of effective management oversight
- false information provided to an authorised officer
Please visit the Food Safety section to find out more information about the services offered by the Environmental Health team.