Fish and seafood has been seized from Kittanda in Great Yarmouth after it failed to provide supplier details in line with EU food safety regulations.

Environmental health officers visited the store, on St Peters Road, on October 9, and confiscated dried smoked small shrimps, dried smoked clam meat, dried smoker larger shrimps/prawns, dried smoked mussel meat and smoked dried fish.

Great Yarmouth Borough Council are now reminding food businesses of their legal duty to prove where their products came from.

Business operator, Alzira Pereira, was asked to provide supplier details to prove the food had been produced, processed and distributed in line with EU food safety regulations.

Food on sale for human consumption must be traceable to ensure it is safe to eat.

However, no proof was provided within the statutory 21 days, despite repeated requests, so the borough council successfully applied to Norwich Magistrates’ Court last week for the food to be condemned and incinerated to prevent it from being used for human consumption.

The court ordered Ms Pereira, a sole trader, to pay a total of £541 to cover the council’s costs and the costs of incineration.

Cllr Carl Smith, the cabinet member for environment, said: “The borough council has a dedicated food safety team who routinely visit food businesses and give advice to ensure their environment and practices comply with regulations.

“This is to give the public confidence that all food they buy, wherever they buy it, has been produced, processed and distributed in accordance with the standards legally expected within the EU.

“In order to ensure this traceability, food businesses must be able to identify their suppliers and must have systems and procedures to enable this information to be made available to authorities on request.

“While the vast majority of food businesses always comply with regulations, this incident has resulted in a hefty bill for this operator – and will send a message to others to ensure they meet their legal duties.”