A CHIP shop owner was ordered to pay a £1,000 fine after a customer found a blade in their takeaway meal.

The Impens family had sat down for their evening meal after Gerard Impens collected a takeaway from the Venue Fish Bar, on Chester Road, Whitby, on March 19 last year.

But Stacey, his son’s girlfriend, was shocked to discover a 1.5cm triangular blade stuck in one of her chips.

Mr Impens reported the incident to Environmental Health at the council and an investigation followed when it was discovered the blade had broken off the chip cutting machine.

On March 22 and 23, environmental health practitioner David Brownlow found ‘very poor hygiene practices, serious food contamination risks’ and ‘inadequate temperature control for high-risk foods’.

He also noted the standard of cleanliness was ‘inadequate’ and saw ‘structural defects’.

Owner Yue Qin Sie, of Acres Lane, Upton, Chester, voluntarily agreed to close the premises, which was awarded the lowest rating of no stars by the inspector.

Raw food was stored with cooked food in the fridge and raw chicken was being cut up on a board adjacent to fresh fruit while cooked chickens were stored on a shelf under the draining board.

A hand basin in the kitchen was used for draining chicken and washing equipment while a colander of cooked rice was left out at room temperature.

After a deep clean, hygiene inspectors were satisfied that Venue could reopen.

Ian Moore, prosecuting, said: “Rather than stop serving and throw away all the chips, they decided to continue serving while looking for the blade and when they couldn’t find it, carried on regardless.”

David Farley, defending, said: “The chopper used to cut the chips was being operated by two relatively new starters.

“Because of their inexperience, they hadn’t spotted when the chips came out misshapen that something was wrong.

“Another member of staff spotted it straight away and stopped the machine.

“They did everything they could at the time to find this dangerous thing. They took the view it was in the fryer and therefore it was safe to continue. It turns out it wasn’t and that was a mistake.”

Cllr Lynn Riley, executive member for community and environment, said:“Officers from the council’s Food Safety Team investigated and discovered that the owners showed a total disregard for food safety legislation by not taking the appropriate action to avoid this incident from occurring.”

Mrs Sie and the company, Yummy Trading Ltd, admitted serving food that was unsafe and unfit for human consumption

They were both fined £500 and Mrs Sie was ordered to pay a £15 victim surcharge. She and the company were also told to pay £500 toward prosecution costs.