A wrongly coloured wedding cake containing plastic layers and potentially containing deadly nut traces has led to a baker being ordered to pay just under £4,000 in fines and costs by magistrates.Faye Selway of the Natural Cake Company, based in Wadebridge, pleaded guilty at Bodmin Magistrates Court to four charges under the Food Safety Act 1990 and the Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013.The case was brought by Cornwall Council following a complaint from a customer relating to plastic contamination in a wedding cake supplied by Ms Selway in April of this year.On the day of the wedding, the cake was delivered to the wedding venue but was the wrong colour and had imperfections on the icing.When the cake was cut in the kitchen to serve to the guests, the kitchen staff discovered pieces of plastic between the icing layers. As a result of this, the cake was not served for fear of further pieces of plastic being in the cake posing a risk to health.The customer contacted Cornwall Council, following Selway’s refusal to provide a refund. On investigation, it was discovered that Selway had also given the customer both written and verbal assurance that the cake would be nut free and made in a completely nut free environment at her cake studio, which was vital as one of the brides has a severe nut allergy and, in the past, had been hospitalised with anaphylaxis.Given the concerns not only around the plastic, but also the standard of the cake, further investigations revealed that the cake was not made in the studio, but in a domestic kitchen, which could not be the nut free environment that was crucial to the brides.The court heard Selway vacated the cake studio nine months before she took the order for the cake, knowing full well that it would not be made in a dedicated studio.Neither the cake studio or Selway’s domestic kitchen were registered with Cornwall Council as a food business, which is required by law and therefore had not been subjected to any food safety interventions, which would have included allergen control and assessing allergen claims.Selway had been advised in writing by the Council when she was considering setting up the cake studio that she would need to register as a food business if she pursued the venture and was therefore fully aware of the requirement.Had the plastic not been in the cake, and it was served at the wedding, the potential for nut contamination could have had catastrophic results.The magistrates, in line with sentencing guidelines fined Selway £896 ordered her to pay the council’s costs of £3,067 totalling £3963.Nick Kelly, Group Leader, Food Safety, Health and Safety and Port Health said:“The legislation around allergens in food are there to ensure consumers have accurate advice to enable them to make an informed decision in respect of the foods they consume. In this case, the misleading information could have had life threatening consequences.“Where businesses fail to meet their legal obligations and put people at risk, the Council will not hesitate to take formal enforcement action.”Councillor Thalia Marrington, cabinet member with responsibility for Community Safety and Public Protection at Cornwall Council, said: “This case highlights the importance of ensuring businesses provide accurate information in relation to the foods they sell. Making misleading claims is totally unacceptable and in instances like this can be life threatening to the consumer.“When businesses blatantly disregard their legal obligations and put their customers at risk, we have no choice but to take action.”ENDS