A Bradford firm, battling to fend off "fierce" competition from Poland, has been hit with a court bill of almost £15,000 for repeatedly breaking food safety rules.

Bradford Crown Court heard that it took Yorkshire Poultry Products Ltd seven months to comply with official notices demanding improvements at its slaughterhouse.

The firm had also been fined for breaches of food hygiene and animal welfare regulations in 2002, 2004, 2005 and earlier this year, said prosecutor Paul Milner.

But mitigating counsel Christopher Dunn told the court that "hefty fines" could finish off the firm, which had been hit hard by the bird flu epidemic and was now having to compete with cheap imports from Poland.

Meat produced there could be brought into the country at 30p a kilo cheaper than it could be produced in Bradford, he added.

"It looks like the writing's on the wall," said Mr Dunn.

"This company has done its level best in very difficult circumstances to meet the very stringent require- ments.

"It would be a terrible shame to see them go the wall for making very serious mistakes, but mistakes they have put right."

Yorkshire Poultry Products, of Hammerton Street, off Bowling Back Lane, pleaded guilty to nine breaches of public health and hygiene regulations. It was fined a total of £10,750 and ordered to pay £4,000 costs.

Mr Milner said the offences were committed between April and December last year.

A freezer was found to contain dirty trays of poultry carcasses and animal by-products, which should have been stained to prevent them entering the food chain, were left unstained in a skip.

Pallets of trays were left open to the elements and close to crates of live chickens, creating a risk of contamination.

There should also have been an enclosed area for the storage of trays, but when that was eventually provided it was not large enough to cover all the stored trays.

The firm also failed to comply with regulations requiring it to monitor hazards and critical control points. One of these was that chicken products should be at a maximum temperature of four degrees centigrade when despatched.

"The company is performing at an acceptable level now," said Mr Milner.

Passing sentence, Judge Linda Sutcliffe noted that the firm had since made "great efforts" to tackle the problems.

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