A chicken supplier has escaped jail after hygiene inspectors found maggots at his filthy meat storage and cutting premises.
Ansar Mahmood, 44, trading as A S Poultry, delivered chicken to food outlets across Huddersfield and Calderdale.
Bradford Crown Court was told that it was only by good fortune that no-one suffered a serious illness or died during Ramadan and Eid in 2015.
Judge Colin Burn told father-of-four Mahmood that he would have been charged with manslaughter if anyone had died.
The court heard how Calderdale Council environmental health officers went to the premises in Battinson Court, Halifax, in June 2015 after an anonymous complaint about the smell of rotting chicken guts and other butchery waste.
When they returned a few days later they saw Mahmood loading a refrigerated van without wearing any protective clothing.
When the waste food bins were inspected they found they were infested with maggots and the inside of the van was dirty.
Prosecutor Abdul Shakoor said when the inspectors went inside the premises it was clear that they were being operated as an unregistered food business.
Mr Shakoor outlined a series of breaches of food safety and hygiene regulations uncovered by the inspectors including a mincer which was infested with maggots and flies.
The court heard that there was a large hole in a basement wall which provided easy access for pests and officers found a five kilo bag of chicken livers which was unfit for human consumption.
Mahmood confirmed that he had been selling chicken to shops in Huddersfield and Calderdale, but he denied ever using the filthy mincer.
He claimed to have only cut up two boxes of chicken at the premises on one occasion and said the equipment belonged to someone else.
The court heard that another man was still under investigation over his involvement with the premises and Mahmood claimed to have mainly used the property for storage of a large order of chickens leading up to the Eid celebration.
Back in 2008 Mahmood, of Danson Place, Halifax, was caught running his business from an unlicensed poultry cutting site at fly-infested premises in Gibbet Street, Halifax.
He was served with a hygiene prohibition notice and an emergency hygiene prohibition order on that occasion but was not prosecuted.
Last month Mahmood pleaded guilty to 16 food safety and hygiene breaches and on Tuesday he was sentenced to four months in jail suspended for two years.
Mahmood, who helps to look after his severely disabled daughter, will also have to do 200 hours unpaid work for the community and pay costs of £1500.
The court heard that Mahmood was still delivering chickens from suppliers to outlets in a registered van, but he no longer did anything to the meat himself.
His barrister Thomas Stanway said the business was not lucrative and his client was only making a profit of about 5p-7p on each kilo of chicken.
Mr Stanway said Mahmood categorically denied using the maggot-infested mincer and his delivery van had now been inspected and registered.
He suggested that the storage of the chickens at the premises had been a one-off at Eid.
Although there was no evidence of anyone becoming ill Judge Burn said people were entitled to expect that the food they bought was handled safely and hygenically.
Calderdale Council’s Cabinet member for regeneration and economic development Clr Barry Collins said: “This was a particularly bad case of a business blatantly ignoring food hygiene regulations.
“We will not tolerate breaches of hygiene standards and will take action against any business that falls short of the requirements or places people at risk.”
