'Unsafe food could kill:' Urgent warning after restaurant slapped with £12,000 penalty for mis-selling dairy free burgers.
Lancashire County Council's Trading Standards has issued an urgent food safety warning after a Preston restaurant and its director have been issued a £12,000 penalty for mis-selling dairy free burgers twice.
Trading Standards officers found food sold as dairy-free at Coco's Soul Food in Preston had milk traces in it.
The restaurant was caught twice, in November 2023 and February 2024 respectively.
Ebrahim Paruk, age 51, director of Coconut (NW) Ltd, which operates the restaurant, appeared at Lancaster Magistrates’ Court on 9th June after previously admitting food safety offences.
The case began in November 2023 when an undercover Trading Standards buyer was served a burger which turned out to contain milk protein at a potentially harmful level, despite having declared a milk allergy beforehand.
An investigation was launched, and three months later, the business was issued a warning, along with robust guidance on allergen controls.
Yet less than a year later, the same thing happened again when undercover Trading Standards officers staged another visit to monitor the situation in October 2024.
This time, Mr Paruk served the meals and personally confirmed that they were dairy-free - but later tests still showed milk protein present in the food.
Trading Standards found that lax checks and poor allergen control procedures over a decision to switch from ordinary buns to brioche ones, was the likely cause.
But district Judge Thompson fined Coconut (NW) Ltd £6,500 and ordered it to pay a victim surcharge of £2,600 along with court costs of £1,800.81.
Mr Paruk was fined £650 and must also pay a victim surcharge of £260.
The total financial penalty came in at just under £12,000.
County Councillor Joshua Roberts, cabinet member for Rural Affairs, Environment and Communities, said:
“People with food allergies rely on businesses to provide accurate information and take proper care when preparing food.
“In this case, a simple change in ingredients led to unsafe food being served, despite a previous warning. Failure to keep allergen information up to date and ensuring staff understand the risks could put customers at risk, and even potentially kill someone with a dairy allergy.
“This is why our Trading Standards officers do so much allergen control work, and they will continue to do so and to take action where businesses fail to meet their responsibilities and put customers at risk.”