A DELICATESSEN has been fined �2,000 and ordered to pay �25,000 costs after pleading guilty to supplying food unfit for human consumption.

Kosher Deli Ltd, which has shops in Golders Green, Temple Fortune, Hendon and Edgware, supplied a pot of chopped liver to a Golders Green care home which contained the potentially lethal food poisoning bacteria listeria.

An environmental investigation into the company by Barnet Council was prompted by a case of listeria in an 89-year-old resident of the home although there was no evidence her illness was caused by Kosher Deli food.

The judge said there had been serious issues at Kosher Deli but considered the offence represented a lapse over a short period of time in a business which had been operating for 74 years.

A Barnet Council spokesman said: “Any commercial outlet selling food has an obligation to make sure their premises are scrupulously clean and any food which comes out of it is fit for consumption.

“We will continue to prosecute anyone who breaches food safety regulations and their duty of care to customers.”

For the full story see tomorrow’s Ham&High.