A VILLAGE store voluntarily stopped selling food and closed its preparation area for 48 hours, after a damning hygiene inspection meant a 'full deep clean' was necessary.

Shorwell Village Store was inspected by the Isle of Wight Council's Environmental Health department in September and received a zero out of five food hygiene rating — the worst possible — requiring 'urgent improvement'.

Action has been, or is being, taken to solve all the problems, said a spokesperson for Shorwell Village Store, which has since reopened the food preparation area.

Overall, general hygiene standards were poor, inspectors said.

They found a dirty microwave, oven, doughnut storage display unit, slush solution container, cutlery container, tea towel container and worktops.

Inspectors photographed slug trails in the lobby, food preparation area and shop.

The shop floor was also dirty and dusty, with cobwebs, they said.

Regulatory officers also found the store was buying meat products from an unnamed company, repackaging them under the Shorwell Store name — without permission and with insufficient information on the packaging — and reselling them.

Areas of paint were flaking off the wall in the food preparation area, which inspectors said needed to be redecorated within a month.

Checks to ensure food was being thoroughly cooked to an acceptable temperature, to destroy food poisoning bacteria, were not being done properly.

Probes showed food was being cooked to 72°C, but was not being not monitored for the required time.

There was no convenient hand wash basin in the food preparation area, with the nearest in the lobby, also used by those who had just been to the toilet and there was no hot running water.

The spokesperson said when inspectors returned, two days later, they were happy with the improvements and standards of hygiene and staff have now fully updated their training on food standards and hygiene.