Village butcher shop owner responds after ‘disappointing’ one-star hygiene rating

Inspectors found problems with cleanliness and cross-contamination at Lakeside Butchers in Welton during their visit in August.

West Lindsey District Council has recently published the outcome, during which environmental health officers said there was a “blatant disregard for cross-contamination”.

Owner Mark Dickinson said he was able to correct most issues within hours of being notified, and believes the rating will be upgraded on the next visit.

The report claims that staff “didn’t seem to understand the dangers of cross-contamination” and were not working with clean hands.

They were also observed not washing their hands or changing aprons between handling raw and ready-to-eat food.

Staff also told inspectors that there hadn’t been any soap for two weeks as the owner was on holiday, and they had been using washing-up liquid.

Mr Dickinson says this was a “staff panic error”, and there were in fact refills of soap available nearby.

The report also noted “the general standard of cleaning in the kitchen was poor”.

Mr Dickinson says this was because it was mid-shift on a busy day, and a full-clean down was carried out at the end.

He said: “I am very disappointed with the resulting score of our inspection, especially as all issues were rectified within a few hours.

“The scoring sadly well outlives the issues.

“I landed back in the country two hours after the inspection and corrected everything immediately.

“The Environmental Health Officer came back within a few days and said they were perfectly satisfied with the standards but would come back to re-score our premises. We are still eagerly awaiting their imminent revisit.

“Staff training and some disciplinary action has taken place to maintain our usual high standards.”

Inspectors also said maggots were found in all outdoor bins, which Mr Dickinson blames on the hot summer and two-weekly bin collections.