Mice Droppings and Live Beetles Found at Southall Butcher
Hanif Halal Meat fined over £5,000 for food hygiene offences
Pictures taken at the premises by health inspectors. Picture: Ealing Council
March 4, 2026
A Southall butcher has been fined more than £5,400 after food-safety inspectors found mouse droppings, live beetles and unhygienic conditions throughout the premises, forcing the business to close immediately because of what the council described as an “imminent risk to health”.
Ealing Council’s food-safety team made an unannounced visit to Hanif Halal Meat, on The Broadway in Southall, in October 2024. Inspectors reported finding mouse droppings on equipment, on food-contact surfaces and next to takeaway containers. They also discovered a nest of larder beetles inside the butcher’s block and live beetles beneath the meat mincer.
According to the council, there was a strong smell at the back of the shop caused by food debris lodged in machinery and around the fridge seal. Officers also found gaps under doors and in the walls, making it easy for pests to enter the building.
The conditions were judged so unsafe that inspectors issued a Hygiene Emergency Prohibition Notice, forcing the shop to close immediately until the problems were resolved.
At Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court on 20 January, owner Mohammed Hanif Khan pleaded guilty to four food-hygiene offences, including:
- failing to keep the premises clean
- failing to have adequate pest-control procedures
- failing to ensure the building was constructed to prevent pest entry
- failing to keep food-contact equipment clean and, where necessary, disinfected
Khan was fined £1,923 and ordered to pay £2,758.70 in court costs and a £769 victim surcharge, totalling £5,450.70.
When officers returned on 31 October 2024, they found that significant improvements had been made and allowed the business to reopen. The council says it continues to monitor food businesses across the borough through unannounced inspections.
Councillor Kamaljit Nagpal, cabinet member for decent living incomes, said the case demonstrated the seriousness of food-hygiene failures.
“Rodent infestations in food businesses are completely unacceptable,” she said. “This egregious breach of the rules put the shop’s customers at real risk of sickness. Our food safety team take swift action when a business does not observe the law.”
The council says officers have the power to issue notices, seize food or bring prosecutions when businesses fail to meet legal standards, and will continue to act where public health is at risk.
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