A Lutton man has been fined £4,650 for operating an illegal poultry cutting plant.

Shahbaz Khan, 36, of 157 Dallow Road, Luton, was prosecuted during a hearing at Luton Magistrates’ Court on Monday (January 6).

He also paid a victim surcharge of £47 and council costs of £866.

In July 2012 Luton council food safety officers were alerted by a member of the public who noticed crates of chicken meat piled up beside a garage behind shops in Riddy Lane in July 2012.

When officers visited, chicken meat was being processed without approval in unhygienic conditions. Food safety officers immediately closed the business.

Chicken was being processed in a garage with no running water and a splintered wooden pallet covered in greasy cardboard was used as a cutting surface for the meat.

The garage wall was covered with a tarpaulin sheet stained with blood and dried-on chicken flesh and the fridge door handle was dirty with dried-on chicken flesh and feathers.

Flies were crawling over a wooden cutting block.

Butchers were wearing dirty aprons stained with grease and blood, and there was a bag of filthy butchers aprons encrusted with scraps of chicken flesh.

Outside the garage, 38 crates of chicken waste including skin, bones and feathers were piled up and covered in blue-bottle flies with blood dripping from the crates and running over the pathway.

When Mr Khan failed to attend court in September 2013, a warrant was issued for his arrest.

He was finally brought before the magistrates this week and pleaded guilty to ten food hygiene offences.