Indian restaurant fined for failed health inspection

The owner of a well known Canberra restaurant has been fined $1,800 after failing a health inspection in February 2011.

Khawar Siddiq pleaded guilty to one charge of breaching food safety laws, after an inspection of Taj Agra at Dickson in Canberra's north.

Originally Siddiq faced ten charges, but Magistrate Peter Dingwall combined the offences into a single charge of breaching the Food Standards Act.

The court heard the breaches ranged from dirt and grime behind a refrigerator, a dirty kitchen with baked on food, cracked tiles and live cockroaches.

Magistrate Dingwall told the court there was no evidence the food was dangerous or had become contaminated.

But he said one has to have regard for the potential.

The court heard Siddiq had closed the restaurant for six days and spent $25,000 fixing the problems and the restaurant has passed all subsequent inspections.

"After 15 years of serving the people of Canberra I regret the findings and will do better in the future," Siddiq said in a statement.

"The breaches occurred in February 2011. They were rectified quickly and the restaurant has been clear ever since."

Source: ABC News, 17 October 2012