A CHINESE caterer has been fined £4,000 for a having a "filthy'' kitchen and defrosting food in the back yard of the Junbo Chop Suey House on Middlesbrough's Acklam Road.

Proprietor Chang Ping Kung pleaded guilty to eight contraventions of the Food Safety Regulations 1995, when he appeared before Teesside Magistrates.

The Bench heard that on visits to the premises Middlesbrough Food Safety Officer Garry Weeks the covered rear yard was used to store, defrost and prepare food.

He found onions being prepared in the yard and a pan of curry paste on an old bed base.

There were bags of chips, shrimps, pork ribs and two chickens defrosting in the same concrete backyard which had a holed roof of plastic sheeting which failed to meet the top of the wall "in many places''.

A pet cat had access to the backyard and the kitchen area where Mr Weeks found a tin of cat food.

Magistrates were told the wall, floor and pipework behind the Chinese cooking range was "very dirty'', coated in an accumulation of grease while the range itself was "filthy''.

During an inspection of the premises Mr Kung handled raw chicken and then cooked food, without washing hands, though he "wiped his hands on a dirty cloth'', the court heard.

In addition to the £4,000 fine he was ordered to pay £560 costs.