CUSTOMERS at a York restaurant popular with shoppers and tourists could have been poisoned because staff did not follow food safety procedures, the city's magistrates heard.

Penny Coupland, City of York Council senior food officer, found cheese, crme fraiche, bacon and humous up to 19 days past their use by dates in the kitchen of St William's College restaurant, off Goodramgate, said Tessa Clarke, prosecuting.

All potentially contained bacteria harmful to human beings and were intended for use in sandwiches without cooking.

Mrs Coupland also found clotted cream which should have been thrown out and evidence that the kitchen staff were not following procedures to ensure that the food they used was still fresh.

The restaurant's owners, Milburns Restaurant Ltd, of Rubery, Birmingham, pleaded guilty to four offences of breaching food safety regulations and were fined £2,000 with £496 prosecution costs.

Magistrates said they were particularly concerned that the food would have been given to customers without being cooked.

Solicitor Anna Naylor said the company had now changed and tightened up on procedures and retrained staff since the offences. It had also carried out internal disciplinary procedures.

Outside court, Ms Clarke said: "We are pleased with what they have done since to put things right. It is a pity they weren't right in the first place, particularly given that the head chef and operations manager had had advanced training."

Speaking on behalf of the company, Lesley Potter said: "Milburns takes its responsibilities regarding health and food safety very seriously indeed, and has in place a well-established food safety management system based on Government and industry hazard analysis (HACCP) procedures."

She said the company had co-operated fully with the council throughout the investigation.

Ms Clarke said Mrs Coupland made a routine inspection of the restaurant on March 21. She found smoked streaky bacon that should have been used by March 2, crme fraiche with a use by date of March 18, Brie 19 days past its use by date and humous 18 days past its use by date.

She told magistrates that all the items were highly perishable and could harm people if eaten past their use by dates.

Ms Naylor said the company had run St William's restaurant for 26 years and had 22 restaurants nationwide. It had never been convicted before under food safety regulations.

Updated: 11:28 Wednesday, December 07, 2005