Boston catering company fined £10,000 over school dinner mistake

Yesterday (Monday, August 14), Boston Magistrates’ Court was told that Willoughby Foods Ltd sent out 75 Quorn meals in November of last year that should not have contained any dairy-based ingredients, but that a food handler had mistakenly added cheese to the meals.

Magistrates heard that the mother of a child with a milk allergy had ordered the meal after checking the allergen information on the order portal. A school meal supervisor spotted that the dish contained cheese and, being aware of the child’s allergy to milk, gave them a different meal.

Willoughby Foods Ltd pleaded guilty to placing unsafe food on the market. The court was told that the company had co-operated fully with Boston Borough Council’s environmental health team, and that it had reviewed and updated its procedures immediately after the incident.

Coun Callum Butler, portfolio holder for environmental at the council, said: “I'd like to express my sincere thanks to the school meal supervisor and the environmental health team for acting so diligently to prevent what could have been a very serious incident.”

Passing sentence, magistrates said the potential for harm was very high, but gave the company credit for pleading guilty at the first opportunity.

They fined Willoughby Foods Ltd £10,000 and ordered tme to pay a £2,000 surcharge and £2,269.40 in costs.

Willoughby Foods Ltd was unavailable for comment.