Krispy Kreme fined £200k after sharp metal found in Melton doughnut

Melton Borough Council launched a prosecution after it was brought to their attention last April and the firm this week pleaded guilty to three breaches of food hygiene and safety laws.

Krispy Kreme also admitted it had received two further complaints of a similar nature and they blamed it on damage to a piece of equipment, a vari-mixer, although no safety controls were in place such as metal detection or recorded checks of the machine.

Tom Pickwell, senior solicitor at Melton Borough Council, told the Leicester Magistrates Court hearing that the Melton complainant risked choking or cutting their mouth if they had bitten into the metal in the doughnut.

He told the court: “The council would expect a large national company to have appropriate measures in place to ensure the food safety and hygiene throughout the whole process of the manufacturing, including checks on all equipment.

“The fact that the vari-mixer was omitted from the checks does, in the view of the council, fall short of the appropriate levels and a suitable and sufficient safety management system.

“Although some systems were in place, they were not sufficient to deal with the full process which led to the incident and Krispy Kreme did not know how long this had been happening for.”

The Magistrates fined Krispy Kreme UK Ltd £216,000, based on £72,000 for each of the three offences.

The borough council was also awarded their full costs of £4,255.30 and Krispy Kreme UK Ltd were ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £181.

Melton Council leader, Councillor Joe Orson, said: “Thanks to the perseverance of the complainant and the steps they took to preserve the

evidence we have been able to take action against this company and are very pleased with the outcome of this case.

"Public safety is our primary concern and we hope that our action sends a strong and clear message that the council, the courts and the public take food safety very seriously.

"We expect appropriate food safety and hygiene standards to be in place and will not hesitate in taking action when these fall short and put public safety at risk.”

Iain MacDonald, representing the company in court, told the court the charges arose from a single incident of the supply of a doughnut and that the firm accepts responsibility for the foreign body which the doughnut should not have contained.

He said that Krispy Kreme, which had been trading since 2003, used consultants who assist them with food safety compliance and told them that metal detection was not required.

A spokesperson for Krispy Kreme said after the hearing: “We apologise unreservedly for this incident and for any upset caused to the affected customer.

"We fully accept the outcome and lessons learnt from this process, and appreciate the support and input from our Primary Authority, Surrey Heath Borough.

“Krispy Kreme are committed to high standards of health, safety, quality, and hygiene, and we have put in place additional controls that will help prevent an issue like this occurring again.”