TWO businessmen who ran a kebab meat factory pocketed £1.2m in two years while flouting food safety laws, a court heard yesterday.

Masoud Chinikar and Mahmood Arta, owners of Meat Zone, operated from a dirty factory, in Middlesbrough, where conditions were described by environmental health officers as appalling.

The men, who each earn £75,000 a year, sold meat to wholesalers, despite being warned by the council they did not have permission under the food safety regulations.

Jonny Walker, prosecuting on behalf of Middlesbrough Council, said the men deliberately ignored the warnings and supplied meat to wholesalers across the country, netting hundreds of thousands of pounds.

He said during inspections of the premises, in Startforth Road, a table used to prepare meat was described by officers as absolutely filthy and caked in dirt.

Containers holding utensils, spices and flour were also extremely dirty and looked like they had not been cleaned for some time - if at all. Some were "encrusted in dirt", the court heard. Food preparation equipment, the floor, and hand basins were very dirty and covered in old food debris.

Mr Walker said: "A visit had taken place in mid-2002 and they were informed standards were inadequate.

"On November 8, environmental health officers visited the premises. It became absolutely clear standards in the premises had deteriorated.

"Standards and cleanliness were described as appalling."

The court heard the men obstructed visits by officers and failed to hand over a list of their customers.

The prosecution said it would have cost about £40,000 to put the factory into a satisfactory condition, a figure disputed by the defendants' barrister.

John Friedman, mitigating, said the men, both of The Sands, Ferens Park, Durham, had operated from the premises, but had since moved to a new building, in Stockton, where they had complied with the regulations.

He said: "This is not a case of putting contaminated meat into the food chain."

Prosecutors urged the court to seize the pair's assets, but Mr Friedman said such a move would bankrupt them.

"Their families would be on the streets," he said.

Judge Peter Armstrong adjourned sentencing for two weeks when he will also decide the amount that should be confiscated from the defendants under the proceeds of crime act.