The ‘home of all things chilli’ has been served up a fiery 1-star food hygiene rating after an inspection revealed serious food hygiene failings, including evidence of rodent infestation and mislabelled products.
An inspection, which took place on 3rd June, found the establishment in need of ‘major improvement ‘, so much so that officers halted the inspection after finding what they described as ” areas of serious non-compliance” that presented a high risk to public health.
Following the inspection, House of Chilli voluntarily ceased trading; however, it reopened just 11 days later after the company took to social media saying:
“Hey hey folks, you may notice everything has disappeared from the online shop – don’t panic! We are just doing a little rejigging and beautifying – we’ll have everything back up as soon as we can!”
During the inspection, officers from the Isle of Wight Council found evidence of a rodent infestation where food was stored and prepared as well as inadequate hand washing facilities and inaccurate allergen labelling.
The business agreed to voluntarily cease preparing and selling food until the health risks had been removed and the premises had been approved to reopen by the Isle of Wight Council.
Inspectors also determined that the premises lacked adequate facilities to ensure effective cleaning and sanitisation. The only source of hot water was an electric kettle capable of producing enough water for a single cup at a time, while sanitising wipes were being used in place of appropriate cleaning arrangements.
The council said this combination was insufficient to adequately clean and sanitise areas that rodents had accessed.
As well as evidence of a rodent infestation, officers found that some pre-packed products did not contain complete ingredient lists, with at least one sauce failing to declare barley despite the ingredient being included in the manufacturer’s specification.
These products included the House of Chilli – Naga Chilli and Vodka Sauce in which Barley was not included on the ingredients list as well as House of Chilli – Sundried Tomato Spicy Ketchup which contained Celery and Mustard were not included.
As part of the voluntary closure, the business was instructed to eliminate the rodent infestation, thoroughly clean and disinfect the premises and demonstrate that the immediate health risks had been removed before reopening. although a separate inspection report identified a number of additional breaches of food hygiene and food information legislation.
These included the absence of suitable hot and cold running water at the hand wash basin, inadequate traceability records for some food ingredients, missing allergen information for loose foods, incomplete mandatory food labelling, missing business address details on packaging, inadequate storage instructions, absent nutritional information and potentially misleading product descriptions.
Inspectors also questioned the use of “Isle of Wight” branding on some products after being advised that certain ingredients were not sourced from the Island.
The council said these additional matters did not present an immediate risk to health but would be addressed through further enforcement action.
In its letter, the council also reserved the right to consider additional enforcement options under its Enforcement Policy despite the business agreeing to close voluntarily.
The premises cannot reopen until an authorised officer confirms in writing that the necessary steps have been taken to remove the health risk.
