A United Kingdom-based Ghanaian businessman, Stephen Akuoko, 62, has been sentenced to two years in prison for breaching food hygiene regulations.
![](https://thenigerialawyer.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/2026-Summer-IDRI-Masterclass.jpg")
In addition to his prison sentence, Akuoko has been banned for five years from operating any food business.
The court also fined him £2,500 in costs.
Akuoko, who supplies ready meals to supermarkets and corner shops, was discovered storing mackerel in his bathroom both in the bathtub and on the floor next to the toilet at his flat.
According to a report published by The Telegraph on April 7, 2026, Akuoko had been operating in Watford, Hertfordshire, under the name Tribal Foods for more than three years.
The report indicated that his business had been under investigation by the council’s environmental health team but proved difficult to inspect until a fire broke out at his flat on Haines Way in October 2024.
Firefighters responding to a fire outbreak after a wok he was using burst into flames discovered large quantities of fish, including some stored on the bathroom floor near the toilet.
Akuoko pleaded guilty to two food safety offences at St Albans Magistrates’ Court on February 11, 2026.
He was later sentenced at St Albans Crown Court on Thursday, April 2, 2026.
The council stated that the decision to prosecute was based on the seriousness of the breaches, his lack of cooperation during the investigation, and the potential risk to public health.
Delivering his judgment, Judge Francis Sheridan said, “Your little business got bigger than you could handle, and you resorted to frankly disgusting practices …fish on the floor of the bathroom, fish in the bathtub and then you cooked them and sold them.
“You must realise that food poisoning can have very serious consequences, even death and if that had happened, you would be facing manslaughter charges.”
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