A PRENTON catering company must pay out more than £5,000 after a toddler suffered an allergic reaction due to mislabelled nursery food.

The Nursery Kitchen Ltd of Prenton Way on North Cheshire Trading Estate was fined £2,300 and ordered to pay £3,000 court costs at Wirral Magistrates Court on Monday, November 26.

Both the director and company The Nursery Kitchen Ltd entered guilty pleas for supplying food to a nursery labelled as dairy free when it actually contained cheese.

Trading Standards were alerted after a toddler suffered an allergic reaction and required medical treatment in hospital after eating one of the 'Quorn sausage, mixed bean and tomato bake' meals from the company.

After an investigation, it was revealed that two products of the same name were produced - one that contained cheese and the other that did not.

The wrong label was applied to the meal which was given to the child who has a milk allergy.

District Judge McGarva said: “The failing was blindingly obvious in having two meals with same description which caused the harm and it could have easily been avoided.

"It was compounded by having no systems to check on the chef.

"This caused a serious failure and significant harm as a result a very young child was left uncomfortable for a period of time.”

Reflecting on recent cases in the media of similar incidents, the Judge said that 'it's a sobering thought what can happen.'

The Nursery Kitchen Ltd were charged for breaching the Food Safety Act 1990 by falsely describing food and for breaching The Food Safety & Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013 by supplying unsafe food.

Cllr Anita Leech, Wirral’s Cabinet Member for the Environment, said: "Our approach to food safety inspections is to work proactively with businesses to promote the best possible standards. However, there are times when formal action is the only justifiable response.

“We won't hesitate to prosecute when we encounter examples such as this where public health has been put in serious danger."

The Company also admitted breaching a Remedial Action Notice served by Environmental Health Officers requiring it to follow its own food safety procedures and cool food quickly after cooking to 'reduce the risk of microbiological growth.'

Anyone wanting to report a complaint or businesses requiring training should contact 03454 040506.