Celebrity restaurant fined in London

The well-known restaurant Julie's in West London which is visited by celebrities quite often, has been caught out for serving standard meat and chicken as organic. It was forced to pay more than £ 11,500 in fines and legal costs for misleading consumers. The managing partner was given a warning that if he appeared before the court again on similar offences, he could expect a prison sentence. It is believed to be the first time that a restaurant has faced prosecution for selling non-organic meat as organic. So far, action had been taken only against butchers’ shops.

The prosecution by the environmental health inspectors was achieved through a laborious audit trail. The officers doing a routine hygiene inspection spotted that the restaurant listed dishes of sausages, roast chicken and rack of lamb as organic. However, they found that not one piece of organic meat had been delivered between October 1st and November 21st. This saved the restaurant almost £ 4,200 during the days in question.  The managing partner pleaded guilty at the hearing and stated this had been purely a mistake. No comments of restaurant’s staff was available.

Next year, a testing kit will be given to local authorities to identify non-organic from organic meat. The test detects antibiotic drugs which are banned in the organic meat production.

www.timesonline.co.uk