A Falmouth restaurant which had previously been awarded the top national hygiene rating had to close earlier this month after a flood left food debris from a bin room running into the kitchen.

The area manager of KFC chose to close the branch on The Moor so it could address a range of issues, including staff working while standing in dirty water, following a visit from environmental health officers.

A report released by Cornwall Council said: “Entire floor in meat fridge, cooking area and bin room flooded. Severe accumulation of grease/ food debris on floor of bin room and running into kitchen. Three staff working standing in dirty water.”

It continued: “Raw meat room blood running on the flooded floor and in the kitchen water/grease/blood being carried on shoes.”

The report also detailed a smelly room with overflowing and cracked bins, a “filthy” hand washing basin with no paper towels and water “only a trickle” when other taps were in use, filthy drains and damaged walls.

Cornwall Council sent an environmental health officer to the store on June 30 following a complaint from a member of the public, and the company volunteered to close the kitchen after it was found that conditions were not suitable for food preparation to continue.

A council spokesperson said: “The council’s environmental health officer visited the next day and carried out a detailed inspection and a report listing the works required. She visited again that evening and was satisfied that the work had been carried out and that the kitchen was of a satisfactory standard so that the restaurant could be reopened.”

A KFC spokesperson said: “Health and hygiene are of the utmost importance to us, and our Falmouth restaurant had previously achieved the best possible 'Scores on the Doors' rating of five stars out of five. We did not meet our usual high standards on the date of the last visit, which was partly due to flooding in the kitchen area. We are confident that this was an isolated incident as inspectors were very happy with the store when they revisited the following day, and we will continue to work closely with the EHO to ensure we maintain our high standards.”

The restaurant had been awarded top marks of five stars in its last inspection by the national Food Standards Agency.

Management were given a list of requirements by the inspector, including providing paper towels in the correct dispenser, cleaning all parts of the premises and cleaning and disinfecting all surfaces and equipment in contact with food, removing rubbish from the bin room, replacing damaged bins and reviewing rubbish collection times, repairing exposed insulation in the raw meat storage room, restacking goods in the freezer, and cleaning the staff toilet and locker room.

The officer also said that the original leak needed to be monitored to ensure the repair was effective, and added that retraining and better supervision needed to be provided to staff, as the operation of current KFC ‘success procedures’ “was not effective in identifying and resolving hygiene problems.”

The council confirmed that all the work requested in the report has been completed and checked.