Two bakers have each been fined £3,000 after inspectors found cobwebs, mould and grease in their bakery.

Keith and Beryl Wright, partners in Wright's Bakery in Thame, each admitted three counts of breaching food safety regulations, following a food hygiene inspection by South Oxfordshire District Council officers.

The charges related to identifying, maintaining and reviewing food safety procedures.

Henley magistrates heard yesterday that the inspectors discovered fans encrusted with mould and grease, mouldy food debris, food scattered on shelves of a storeroom and cobwebs present throughout the premises during the inspection in June.

Melanie Capeling, prosecuting, said: "There was an unacceptable risk of contamination. "There was no systematic approach to food safety. Food was being produced in conditions that were totally unacceptable."

The Wrights were also each ordered to pay £225 costs.

Trevor Dawe, defending, said the breaches were the first in the bakery's 49-year history.

He said: "A bakery creates a lot of dust and condensation, and requires a lot of work to keep it free from these," he told the court.

"It is a small business which is very conscious of the need to maintain hygiene, and takes its duties very seriously. The business has already put further systems in place to ensure there is no recurrence of this."

He added that cleaning records are now being kept.

The third partner in the bakery, Edward Wright, the couple's son, was fined £3,000 and ordered to pay £225 costs after admitting the three charges last month.

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