Pictures have emerged showing the grim state of a festival food van – which left revellers at risk.
The gruesome state of the interior of a dirty Mexican food van has been circulated by health inspectors.
LeicestershireLive reports they say the Taco Shed posed “an imminent risk” to the health of rock fans at Download Festival.
Download took place earlier this summer with thousands of fans flocking to enjoy three days of the world’s best rock music.
The Taco Shed was trading near the main arena at the festival when environmental health officials were alerted to its unhygienic conditions.
They inspected the mobile unit and found that a range of food safety regulations were being broken.
The Taco Shed was discovered to have insufficient facilities to maintain personal hygiene in terms of hand washing.
Owner Daniel Donovan failed to keep cooked chicken and pork at a heat of 63 degrees, required to keep it safe to eat.
It was also established he was not keeping rice at the temperature necessary to prevent food poisoning.
The unit did not have sufficient disinfectant for cleaning cooking utensils, and Donovan failed to keep the Taco Shed clean and maintained in good repair to avoid the risk of contamination by animals and pests.
He agreed to voluntarily close the unit and leave the festival after the inspection on June 8, 2018.
It has not been suggested that any of the 70,000 rock fans at the festival fell ill as a result of eating a taco from the unit.
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The mobile unit’s state prompted North West Leicestershire District Council to prosecute Donovan.
He was due to appear at Leicester Magistrates’ Court earlier this week to answer nine food safety charges.
However, the defendant, of Southlands Way, Congresbury, near Bristol, did not attend the hearing, so magistrates found the charges proven in his absence and issued a warrant for his arrest.
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After the hearing, councillor Andrew Woodman, portfolio holder for community services at North West Leicestershire District Council, said: “Every year we put a huge amount of work into ensuring Download is a safe and enjoyable festival for everyone, and this includes food hygiene.
“Serving and preparing food out of a van is no different to a restaurant when it comes to hygiene and the conditions in the Taco Shed clearly fell well below acceptable standards.”
He added: “This case shows how seriously we take the safety of the public, and that even a huge festival like Download does not offer a place to hide for law-breaking food business owners.
“Congratulations to our team on ensuring this van was shut down so promptly and then going on to secure this prosecution.”
