A CROOKED businessman has been found guilty of running an illegal and filthy meat processing plant in Bradford where two tonnes of chicken was seized when it was raided.

Majid Zaman was this afternoon convicted by a jury of all 12 charges against him relating to a meat cutting plant at Unit 2, Iron Works Park, Bowling Back Lane.

The business was raided on September 3, 2013, by police and Border Agency officers and Bradford Council and Food Standards Agency officials.

During a week-long trial, the jury at Bradford Crown Court heard that investigators were met by a scene of filth and chaos at the unit which was illegally processing the meat for human consumption.

Workers in dirty clothing were cutting up chicken carcases in a structurally unsuitable area with numerous hygiene deficiencies, prosecutor Howard Shaw said.

Operatives were standing on filthy cardboard packaging, wheelie bins leaked blood-stained fluids and debris was piled up outside. The offices and toilet were filthy and the cutting room tables were dirty and overloaded with mounds of chicken carcases.

Cutting knives were left under the tables and there was no wash basin or knife steriliser. The walk-in chiller had a dirty door and the fridge pooled contaminated water.

Zaman, 34, was convicted of operating a meat cutting plant without approval, failing to ensure the workforce wore clean protective clothing, failing to provide sufficient hand washing facilities and failing to provide sufficient facilities for washing food and equipment.

He was also found guilty of failing to ensure that food premises were kept clean and well maintained, failing to ensure that food equipment was effectively cleaned, failing to ensure that wrapping materials were not exposed to a risk of contamination, failing to protect food against contamination and failing to provide adequate changing facilities for personnel, two charges of failure to establish the traceability of food at all stages of production, and failing to put in place, implement and maintain procedures based on the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) principles.

All the offences took place between August 1 and September 4, 2013.

Zaman, of Parkinson Lane, Halifax, was of previous good character, his barrister Frida Hussain told the court.

She asked the judge, Recorder George Cook, to adjourn sentence for a probation report.

Mr Shaw told the court the maximum sentence on each charge was two years' imprisonment.

Miss Hussain said she would be urging Recorder Cook to suspend any term of imprisonment when Zaman was sentenced in December.

Zaman, who runs Shariah Foods in Halifax was granted bail.

The judge told him: "All options, including custody will be open to me."

He also asked for a full report on Zaman's finances.

After the case, Councillor Arshad Hussain, Bradford Council’s executive member with responsibility for environmental health, said: “Bradford Council is determined to try to stamp out food crime and stop illegal food businesses flouting the law by operating without the required standards of inspection, registration and food hygiene in place.

“Working with other agencies, Bradford Council’s rapid intervention to close down this illegal plant prevented large amounts of unfit meat entering the local food chain over a prolonged period.

“Bradford Council will not allow criminals to produce food in unhygienic and unregulated processing conditions."