Takeaway under investigation

8:30am Saturday 16th August 2008

Comments (1)   Have your say »

A Chinese takeaway in Borehamwood is being investigated by environmental health officers following a complaint that food sold by them allegedly contained maggots.

Raymond Village, of Dales Road, Borehamwood, purchased a meal on Tuesday evening from the Great Wall of China takeaway, in Shenley Road.

He called in environmental health officers from Hertsmere Borough Council on Wednesday morning after his daughter allegedly found the maggots in her food.

Mr Village said: “I bought the meal for my partner, my daughter Debbie and her boyfriend and it was my daughter’s boyfriend who noticed that the food contained maggots.

“Both my daughter and my partner were violently sick after they saw the maggots in the food. I am disgusted and revolted that this could happen.

“You pay a lot of money for takeaways now and to have this kind of service is unacceptable.

“I hope that the environmental health officers will do something about this as the takeaway needs to clean up their act.”

Debbie Village, 15, added: “I had a couple of mouthfuls of the meal, chicken fried rice, and then my boyfriend pointed out the maggots. I felt so sick and was actually vomiting afterwards. The thought of it makes me feel ill now. I hope that the takeaway does not let this happen again. I have definitely been put off eating any takeaways in the future.”

An inspection carried out by environmental health officers last month gave the takeaway a zero star rating out of a possible five for its food hygiene standards.

Stephen Chan, who works at the takeaway, said: “We have a good reputation. We always want to guarantee that the food is clean. If we see that something is not right we will throw it out. We have to wait to let the investigation happen and see what the result is at the end.”

A borough council spokeswoman said: “Following a complaint from a member of the public on Wednesday, an environmental health officer has been allocated to investigate an alleged incident at a takeaway premises in Borehamwood and has been to collect information from the complainant.

“Until the investigation has concluded, it would be inappropriate to comment further.”