A Powys care home has blasted inspectors after being given a "harsh" food hygiene rating of one due to a hole in their ceiling.

Glanenig Residential home in Talgarth was given the rating in an inspection earlier this year by the Food Standards Agency, who also noted instances of poor cleanliness and concerns of hygiene practices in the kitchen.

However a representative of the home said that that the rating was "harsh" and said: "We are back up to a four rating but we should never have gone down to a one. They were a bit hard on us."

In their examination of the Powys care home, inspectors from the Food Standards Agency found that the kitchen was not in an ideal condition and noted that there was a “big hole in the ceiling” which was advised to be fixed to “leave a surface that would prevent the accumulation of dirt”.

However according to the home this hole had only appeared a few days previously after a pipe burst and they were having to let it dry out before it could be re-plastered - something that was not taken into account by inspectors.

The inspectors also noted that there was a lack of hot water in the kitchen, and warned that while it was fixed during the inspection “you should be aware of the food safety issues in your kitchen and should fix them without the intervention of an officer”.

This also has since been fixed and according to the home was due to a faulty washer and hot water still available but that the tap was stiff.

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Many of the safety practices in the kitchen were also criticised including a lack of training, the hand wash basin not being used and a lack of training given to staff.

The home was also forced to surrender a cooked ham as it was not brought from a registered food provider. There were also issues raised by inspectors about the condition of certain bits of kitchen equipment including the microwave which was described as needing to be “thoroughly cleaned and disinfected”.

Inspectors added: “I am very concerned that the practices seen during my inspection, together with the lack of staff awareness of food safety systems, indicate a lack of management controls over food operations in your business.

“As discussed, your food safety management procedure must be carried out as a priority, and controls must be put in place to ensure there is no risk to public safety.”

This however was strongly refuted by the staff at the home who said that they had a new chef who had to be brought in on short notice from another firm after the previous one went away for holiday as otherwise there would have been long wait for DBS checks to be completed. 

They said the stand in got "worked up" and that inspectors had muddled their food hygiene paperwork and checks.

A representative said: "We weren't happy. The paperwork is usually immaculate, we do all our morning checks, all our evening checks.  We nearly lost our normal cook because they were unhappy with having the one stuck up."