A head chef at an award-winning gastropub was fired after 'double-dipping' his fingers into sauce and serving mussels 'unfit for human consumption,' an employment tribunal heard. Max Murphy was sacked after the restaurant's owners uncovered a catalogue 'shocking' food hygiene practices in his kitchen including putting wet fish next to desserts and preparing vegan food next to raw chicken.
Staff members told how the chef served mussels stored in a fish drawer that 'stank and were clearly dead, washed and rinsed his fingers in a container which held utensils and regularly reused gravy from customers' Sunday lunches. After an investigation into his behaviour, bosses at the Malt Shovel pub in the West Midlands village of Barston fired the 53 year old for gross misconduct.
Mr Murphy took them to the tribunal claiming that rather than being sacked he should have been given another chance. But his claim of unfair dismissal was thrown out by Employment Judge Katherine Hindmarch, who ruled that there were 'serious issues' with his behaviour.
