A Southall takeaway restaurant and its director have been ordered to pay thousands of pounds after admitting a series of serious food safety offences.

SAI20 Limited, trading as Abi Fast Food, which sells Sri Lankan cuisine and other takeaway food from 233 The Broadway, Southall, and its director, Velventhan Ganesalingham, each pleaded guilty to six offences following an investigation by Ealing Council's food safety team.

The case was heard at Uxbridge Magistrates' Court on 8 July. The court heard that council officers found repeated food hygiene failings during a number of visits to the business in 2025.

The investigation began after a routine food hygiene inspection in January 2025. Officers found high-risk foods, including meat curries, being kept at unsafe temperatures, problems with cross-contamination, poor cleaning standards in food preparation areas, a lack of staff food hygiene training, and no effective food safety management system. The council served the business with Hygiene Improvement Notices requiring the issues to be addressed.

When officers returned for a follow-up inspection in March 2025, they found the notices had not been complied with. Staff were unable to answer basic food safety questions, while food safety records were blank or incomplete. Officers also identified continuing hygiene and contamination risks in food preparation areas.

A further inspection in May 2025 uncovered additional serious concerns. Around 20kg of high-risk food, including curries, rice and meat dishes, was voluntarily surrendered after officers found it had been stored at room temperature instead of being properly refrigerated. Poor cleaning standards and structural defects that made effective cleaning difficult were also identified.

The court also heard that a toilet still opened directly into a food preparation room despite previous advice from officers to rectify the issue. Food handlers were also found to have poor knowledge of food hygiene requirements.

At court, the company admitted offences including failing to comply with two Hygiene Improvement Notices, failing to keep the premises clean and in good repair, failing to ensure staff were adequately trained, allowing a toilet to open directly into a food preparation area, and failing to keep high-risk food at safe temperatures.

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SAI20 Limited was fined £2,000 and ordered to pay £4,000 in prosecution costs and an £800 victim surcharge, bringing the total to £6,800.

Mr Ganesalingham was fined £600 and ordered to pay £1,180.70 in costs, along with a £240 victim surcharge.

Councillor Kamaljit Nagpal, Ealing Council's cabinet member for decent living incomes, said: "Food businesses have a legal duty to ensure the food they sell is safe for their customers.

"In this case, officers found serious and repeated failures, despite giving advice and serving formal notices requiring improvements.

"Our food safety team works hard to protect residents and visitors. The council will continue to take action against businesses that put public health at risk by failing to meet basic food hygiene standards."