A high street café has been criticised after “engrained dirt” was found in the kitchen and out-of-date food was being stored.
The full food hygiene inspection report for Caffé Casa Mia, in Green Lane, Northwood, near South Oxhey, was released to the Watford Observer on July 15.
It comes after the café, was given a zero out of five rating and told “urgent improvement is necessary” when it was inspected on March 30, 2023.
The café’s manager Girvanni Federico told the Observer that improvements have already been made since the inspection.
During the investigation it was found that some semi-cooked food that was prepared in house did not have any indication of use by dates and other food being stored was out of date.
Several areas and pieces of equipment were found to be dirty such as a temperature probe, freezers, including door handles and seals, light switches, plugs and a build up of dirt was found under worktops.
Inspectors called for all areas of the kitchen to be cleaned to remove the “engrained dirt,” mould from the ceiling, and dirty chopping boards to be replaced.
Officers also found that staff were preparing ready to eat salad on boards that were identified for raw meat, causing a risk of cross contamination.
Mr Federico said: “We got this rating because I was off ill and someone else was running it. They are still there and have received training along with the other members of staff.”
He added that mould in the ceiling was due to a leak in the flat upstairs, which has now been fixed.
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Mr Federico said that any out-of-date food was for staff, however the inspector said there was no evidence of this.
He also said: “If inspectors had come in the morning or evening, then the chopping boards would have been clean.”
Hillingdon Council said it would only close a business on food hygiene grounds in line with Food Standards Agency guidelines.
The spokesperson added: “They say that closure is an option if hygiene standards are very poor and pose an imminent risk to public health.
“This was not the case with Café Casa Mia and urgent matters were resolved quickly."
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