Meat joints wrapped in cling film were left in the ‘dirty’ kitchen of a catering business.

Roast Out Catering was handed a one-out-of-five food hygiene rating by inspectors following a visit on February 22.

In a damning report seen by the Daily Echo, inspectors found that many areas of the kitchen were unclean.

The report revealed that chopping boards in the Romsey Road premises were only washed once a week in the dishwasher – that was broken at the time of inspection.

Staff at Roast Out were told to use a ‘two-stage’ method to clean and disinfect surfaces, which was not being done.

The inspectors said: “All surfaces/equipment which come into contact with high-risk foods must be cleaned and disinfected.”

The floor covering in the walk-in chiller was found to be dirty behind equipment and at floor and wall junctions.

‘Thoroughly clean the floor and maintain in a clean condition’, staff were instructed.

READ MORE: 'Black deposits' found on chopping board as restaurant is slammed

Inspectors also found that the probe thermometer used to take food temperatures was ‘greasy and not clean’, while two microwaves were also dirty.

Speaking on food in the kitchen, inspectors said: “Beef and pork joints wrapped in cellophane were left to cool at room temperature in the kitchen and advised that they were due to go into the refrigerator whilst still warm after one hour and 15mins.

“Cooling at room temperature slows down the cooling process and presents ideal conditions for food poisoning bacteria to grow.”

It was also found that Roast Out Catering had ‘no food safety management system documentation’ in place.

But business owner Paul England said this was due to a recent flood in the above property.

He said: “I was a bit disappointed but the score was not unexpected.

“We had a flood in the flat upstairs and our paperwork was damaged, so we had to take it away from the premises.

“We have booked in to have our inspection again and we are expecting a better report.

“We were previously rated a five and we have never dipped below that.

“All our procedures are still worth a five.”