Latest News - Prosecutions

A food manufacturer has been ordered to pay a huge fine after admitting to more than 20 safety failures.

Acton-based company Limasole Ltd, trading as Hong’s Dumplings, supplies frozen dumplings and gyozas to Asian supermarkets and restaurants.

At Isleworth Crown Court on Monday 2 February, the company and its director Zhuo Yu ‘Sharon’ Zhao of Baronsmede in Ealing pleaded guilty to 20 offences under the Food Safety and Hygiene Regulations 2013.

Between them, they were ordered to pay a total of £78,000. Limasole Ltd was fined £45,000 and must pay a victim surcharge of £2,000 and costs of £17,000.

Zhao was fined £8,000, along with a victim surcharge of £2,000 and costs of £4,000. 

Ealing Council’s food safety team uncovered several breaches of food safety standards and contamination in Limasole Ltd’s factory in Colville Road, Acton, during inspections in March and June 2024.

Food that was being produced at the site was exposed to a number of food safety risks, including construction dust, flaking paint directly above the production line, dirty or damaged equipment, and a rodent bait box on a work surface.

In March 2024, council officers served the company with a Remedial Action Notice, prohibiting use of the dumpling production room for food handling or processing until improvements were made.

The notice was withdrawn the following month, because the necessary improvements had been made.

However, an unannounced inspection in June 2024 found the company using a dirty and mouldy conveyor belt, and food production was once again taking place next to construction works in the factory. There was also no hot water available for hand washing or sterilising equipment. This resulted in the company being served with another Remedial Action Notice requiring it to stop production straight away.

The notice was lifted in July 2024 after the company had once again improved its hygiene standards.

It was then established that during the period when its right to produce and sell food was suspended in June 2024, the company had continued to produce food in the factory. Later enquiries found evidence that the company also sold products during this time.

CLICK HERE for more information

‹ Back Other News ›