DIRT, dust and debris left hygiene officers 'disappointed' by the cleanliness of a Cowley Road corner shop.

The Eastern and Continental Store - on the corner of Crown Street and Cowley Road - was given a one-star rating by city council inspectors when they visited last month.

The council's environmental health team don't just deal with restaurants, takeaway and cafes but any business handling and selling food.

And when inspectors visited the store, which first opened in 1975, they demanded management conducted a 'deep clean' and said there was no way of proving food sold at the shop was 'safe to eat'.

The report read: "You must carry out a deep clean of the floor and the floor wall junctions to remove the build up of dirt, dust and general debris.

"This will involve pulling out all stock from the floor, lifting pallets and clearing and cleaning shelving.

"You must also clean the rear store and remove any unwanted items and clean the walk in chiller."

In the Food Hygiene and Safety and Structural Compliance categories the shop scored 'fair' but it was let down by a rating of 'little' when it came to Confidence in Management - based on track record and how likely management are to turn it around.

Officers said there was no system in place to make sure food handled at the premises was 'safe to eat' and demanded that management implement a food safety management system and keep clear records.

It said: "There is no record of the practices and procedures that you use to ensure that the food handled at the premises is safe to eat.

"To provide a clear record of the practices and procedures necessary to ensure food sold to your customers is safe, your food safety management system must be written out or recorded electronically.

"You must include details of temperature monitoring of fridges and freezers, stock rotation and date labelling for products in the refrigerator."

It was also noted that some of the top shelves in the shop were being propped up using oil cans - inspectors said this could cause injury to staff is the shelving fell.

Inspectors went into further detail when it came to the dirty state of storage room and damage to the shop.

It said: "The ceiling in the rear store area is damaged with flaking paint and loose flaking chipboard - as discussed there have been issues with the flat roof above leaking and the ceiling must be repaired and repainted.

"The floor to the walk in freezer is damaged and split and cannot be easily cleaned - the flooring must be replaced to provide an easy to clean, impervious surface."

No-one at the Eastern and Continental Store were unavailable for comment.