Environmental health officers found food being prepared in disgusting conditions at a cafe operating from a lay-by in Powys.

It led to the operator of the cafe on the A470 near Llangurig being successfully prosecuted and banned from running a food business.

Mary Jean Felstead, the former operator of Jeans Café at Neuadd-Ddu lay-by, appeared in Llandrindod Wells Magistrates Court last week in a prosecution led by the council’s Environmental Health Team.

Felstead pleaded guilty to five offences under food hygiene legislation including:

Failure to maintain the premise in a clean condition

Failure to ensure all articles, fittings and equipment with which food comes into contact are effectively cleaned and where necessary disinfected

Placing food on the market that was unsafe in that the food was past its use by dates or in a mouldy condition

Failure to implement and maintain a permanent procedure on the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point principles.

Failure to remove and prevent accumulation of food waste from the kitchen area.

Magistrates heard that the council’s environmental health officers carried out a routine inspection in March this year and found generally dirty conditions, mouldy food that was unfit for human consumption and past its sell-by date, refuse piled up in the kitchen, poor food handling practices and a failure to follow food safety procedures.

Felstead was fined £120 for each offence by the court, £600 in total. She was also ordered to pay a £30 surcharge and £750 costs, bring the total to £1,380.

Additionally, as Felstead had been prosecuted previously for similar food hygiene offences by the council’s Environmental Health Team, the court issued a Hygiene Prohibition Order, preventing her from running any food business.

Cllr Jonathan Wilkinson, cabinet member for environmental health, said: “Food business operators are in a position of trust, their customers expect them to comply with food hygiene legislation and take appropriate measures to ensure the food they are served is safe.

“In this instance, the food business operator repeatedly failed to comply with hygiene standards, which has resulted in the court issuing a prohibition order that will ensure that the operator can no longer run any food business.

“Members of the public are reminded of the importance of checking the Food Hygiene Ratings of food businesses before they eat out.”