11:00am Wednesday 23rd December 2009
A FARMER from Colne who has admitted a string of hygiene and food safety problems is to have a fresh inspection from environmental health officials.
Council lawyers in Pendle have dropped an application for a public health prohibition on milk production at John Leslie Allison’s Hubb House Farm in Knott Lane, as part of a prosecution being mounted jointly with the Food Standards Agency.
Allison, 63, is awaiting sentence after pleading guilty to various offences under food hygiene regulations and failing to comply with clean-up notices for milking parlours and sheds at the farm.
But any delays in the case could mean any public health order, imposed as a punishment, not taking effect for two or three months.
The authority has not ruled out taking further emergency action following a further monitoring visit to the farm in the New Year. The farm has been castigated for the ‘filthy’ conditions in the milking sheds.
Michelle Brown, prosecuting on behalf of the council and FSA, told Burnley Crown Court that any evidence unearthed at the inspection could lead to further charges.
She said: “There is no evidence to suggest there is an imminent risk but the only way that the council could make any such application is if there was visible vermin at the premises or any environmental swabs showing pathogens are present.”
Judge Philip Butler has also ordered copies of full accounts for 2008 and 2009 for Allison’s farm, ahead of a sentencing hearing on January 13.
The judge said it was in the defendant’s best interests to consider making any necessary improvements possible ahead of the next hearing and before any future council inspection.
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