The Cod Father, in Corbets Tey Road, was rated a one out of five for its food hygiene – meaning “major improvement” is necessary – following an inspection from the Food Standards Agency (FSA) on November 5, 2025.
The chippy has since improved its hygiene standards, gaining a ‘good’ ranking of four at a revisit on January 27.
While inspectors deemed the cleanliness of the facilities and the hygienic handling of food to be ‘good’ during this revisit, the takeaway’s management of food safety was found to be ‘generally satisfactory’.
The full report for the November inspection, obtained via a Freedom of Information request, has revealed that this was a key issue previously as well.
The food safety officer said in the report that they found “no evidence” of a “written food safety management system”, and urged The Cod Father to carry out daily opening and closing checks.
Allergen information was also not available for all of the foods offered, the report said, while fridge and freezer temperatures were not monitored and recorded daily.
Several items were also found to be broken or missing during the inspection, including the ground floor toilet, floor tiles, a light and the probe thermometer used for checking food is cooked thoroughly.
The storage of knives at the chippy was also highlighted as an area for improvement.
The report said: “Do not store knives in the gap between the metal splash back and the wall to the rear of the sinks.
“Provide a wall mounted magnetic rack for the hygienic storage of knives.”
The inspector concluded that the FSA would take further action in the form of a revisit, which was then carried out on January 27.
The Cod Father’s manager Naeem Ahmadzai said that they had “only recently taken over the business” at the time of the November inspection, and claimed they were dealing with “several outstanding issues”.
Mr Ahmadzai said: “We took the feedback from the environmental health officers extremely seriously and acted promptly to address all areas identified in the report.
“Since then, we have implemented a fully documented food safety management system, strengthened our procedures, and ensured that all relevant staff members have completed updated training.
“We remain fully committed to continuous improvement and to providing a safe, hygienic, and welcoming environment for all our customers.”