A COWLEY road cafe owner has called for the council not to issue hygiene ratings on first visits after his deli was slammed by inspectors.

Out-of-date chicken and lamb samosas and a poorly ventilated kitchen next to the toilet led to Pastiche Deli being given a one-star rating by Oxford City Council environmental health officers.

The lack of hand wash facilities, dirty tea towels, and poor practice from staff were also criticised at an inspection last month.

But owner Feras Al Zudi said the system was 'unfair' and more support was needed for small businesses starting out.

He said: "It's my first cafe and it was our first visit - I don't think its fair on small businesses to be rated on their first visit.

"We should be working together with the council as a team and we wanted some information about health and safety from them before an inspection.

"A low rating doesn't help small businesses starting out - we pay our business rates, employ ten people and are ultimately helping the city - the council should be supporting us."

Mr Al Zudi also said that all the improvements had been made, including major changes to the kitchen, all staff had been trained and he was confident of scoring a four or five at an upcoming revisit.

But the council's inspection - ten months after the cafe opened - found a number of bad practices including cleanliness, poor personal hygiene among staff and risk of air contamination from the toilet.

The report read: "At the time of my inspection much of the food was being prepared and cooked in a room with no water supply or ventilation, which had inadequate food preparation surfaces.

"Owing to the lack of ventilation, air from a contaminated area, ie the toilet lobby, could enter the cooking and preparation room - you must provide suitable fresh air intake and extraction.

It added: "Poor standard of personal hygiene was observed in the basement, with staff washing hands in a sink full of equipment and drying hands on uniform - no soap was provided for them."

The Mediterranean cafe lounge - as it calls itself - scored 'Poor' when it came to Food Hygiene and Safety and Structural Compliance.

Storage and handling of food, such as olives and samosas was also marked down by inspectors.

The report read: "Rice was stored in servery at 23C but it must be kept refrigerated between 0-8C.

"A large open tin of olives was covered in cling film - once food is opened it must be put in suitable containers.

"Out of date chicken and lamb samosas were stored in the freezer - out of date food must not be sold."