Inspectors visited Alhayat following a tip-off fruits were being handled and prepared in the butchery
Inspectors found vegetables being handled beside raw meat(Image: WCC)
A Central London grocer was handed a zero food hygiene rating after inspectors caught staff handling vegetables with raw meat.
Alhayat Mediterranean Food Store on Lupus Street, Pimlico, needs urgent hygiene improvements in terms of cross contamination and pest control, Westminster City Council food inspections said.
Inspectors said the shop lacked pest control procedures, was dirty, and had no food safety management system in place.
Shop workers told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) they carried out the recommended changes and have since been revisited by inspectors. Inspectors visited in March following a tip-off fruits were being handled and prepared in the shop’s butchery.
Alhayat is located on Lupus Street, Pimlico(Image: Google)
When they arrived, they found a squash being prepared in the butchery without any cross contamination controls in place. They also found herbs being stored underneath raw meat carcasses in the walk-in chiller and old rat drippings in the corner of the basement storage room.
Mice dropping and dead adult cockroaches were also found in another storage area. Inspectors said a hygiene improvement notice, a legally-enforceable notice which outlines breaches and remedies, would be served to Alhayat. They also recommended a deep clean of certain areas of the store.
In a hygiene report following the March visit, inspectors wrote: “The butchery section was visibly dirty and requires a deep clean including the walls, floor, and equipment in the area. The walk-in chiller was found to be in a poor state of cleanliness with blood found on the floor and walls.”
Alhayat said it replaced all rusty shelves in the walk-in chiller(Image: WCC)
They found shelves in the walk-in chiller were heavily rusted and “no longer capable of being cleaned or disinfected” and said the sink unit near the butchery was in a poor state of repair and needed replacement.
They also found damaged flooring in the butchery and claimed food handlers lacked an awareness of hygiene hazards in the business. They said Alhayat needed to improve its record-keeping procedures and develop a food safety management system, which they said was lacking during the visit.
They wrote: “You have failed to identify relevant hazards and any associated checks or procedures in your businesses that are needed to make certain the food you produce is safe. You must put in place practices and procedures that would control potential problems, and document the above and any monitoring records.”
They urged Alhayat to focus on cross contamination controls between raw and ready-to-eat foods as well as improving pest control procedures. They also said there was no evidence the shop’s electrical installation was being maintained by a competent person.
A member of Alhayat told the LDRS “everything” has been cleaned and a division has been put in place between raw meat and vegetables. Store Manager Samer Khanaser said the council has visited the premises on two occasions since March.
Inspectors found old rat droppings and dead cockroaches(Image: WCC)
He said damaged tiles in the butchery have been replaced and said the incident inspectors witnessed was “rare”. He said a customer asked for the squash to be cut up. Samer said this does not happen regularly.
He also claims the rat droppings came from a squirrel which entered the store and took days to remove. He also said pest control treatments happen regularly and are increased in the summer due to the heat.
He also claimed the sink was clean and working properly and said records are now up to date and are well-maintained. He said the store was only just recovering commercially from the pandemic.
Inspectors said the butchery was “visibly dirty”(Image: WCC)
He said two electricians have been contacted to manage the shop’s electrical installations. He said the shop’s electrics need updating as they have been in place “for 50 years”. He added that the shop would have to close for a couple of days for this to take place.
He also claimed the council were aware of the state of their electrical installation but never complained about it before the March inspection. He also said the problems were “not as bad” as they appeared and said he did not understand why the council were taking the infringement “so seriously”.
He said: “Whenever we see a problem, we fix it straight away.”
A Westminster City Council spokesperson said: “Our Food and Health & Safety Team are responsible for ensuring business operators comply with their responsibilities. In March 2025, teams undertook a routine compliance visit and discovered a number of issues that the business was asked to correct including areas of concern that could not be established at the time of inspection.
“It would be disingenuous of any business to suggest that their non-compliance is because of the council’s approach to regulation. We continue to support all businesses to achieve compliance and will be as proactive as possible when extending support and guidance during inspections.”
The spokesperson said an investigation into the breaches found at Alhayat is ongoing and they cannot comment further.
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