Rotting vegetables were found when environmental health officers visited a town centre take-away in Havelock Square, Swindon, U.K.

Owner Ranjit Matharu pleaded guilty to six charges of breaching health and safety regulations.

The offences included: failing to protect food from contamination; failing to keep premises clean, maintained and in good order; and failing to ensure fittings in contact with food were clean and in good working order to avoid risk of contamination.

A series of checks by environmental health officers between 2008 and 2010 discovered decomposing tomatoes and courgettes.

They also found that a number of staff had not been trained in health and safety matters.

Fining Matharu £2,250 and ordering he pay £500 costs, chairman of the bench Geoffrey Earl said: “These are always difficult cases to deal with to reflect the seriousness of an offence, especially as these offences range greatly. We have six matters, three relate directly to actual food offences which affect the quality and the other three relate to errors in the systems in place.”