Barnsley restaurant fined £11,000 over dairy-free mix-up
Balti House Barnsley and its director pleaded guilty after trading standards found dairy in a dish sold as dairy-free, the second such case since a 2025 warning.
A Barnsley restaurant and its director have been fined more than £11,000 after trading standards officers found dairy in a dish sold as dairy-free.
Balti House Barnsley, which trades as Balti Palace in Darton, pleaded guilty to one food safety offence at a magistrates' court, Barnsley Council said. Mohammed Nozrul Islam, the company's director, pleaded guilty to a similar offence in his role as director of the business.
The case followed a test purchase by the council's trading standards officers in April 2026. They ordered a mutton bhuna labelled as dairy-free from the restaurant and had it tested, and the results showed it contained dairy, according to the council.
What arrives at the table is expected to match what was promised at the till.
Balti House Barnsley was fined £9,396, a figure that includes a fine, prosecution costs and a victim surcharge, the council said. Islam was fined a further £1,612 on the same basis. Together, the penalties handed down at the hearing came to more than £11,000.
A repeat dairy-free offence
The council said the business had already been warned in 2025 after a similar breach, when a dairy-free balti ordered in an earlier test purchase was also found to contain dairy. Officers returned for the April 2026 test purchase after that first warning had been issued, the council said.
Cllr Sam Burdett, Barnsley Council's cabinet spokesperson for communities, said customers who order a dairy-free dish for someone with a milk allergy are entitled to expect that what arrives at the table matches what was promised. He said the case was particularly concerning because it followed an earlier warning rather than a first offence.
Barnsley Council's allergen checks
Burdett said businesses that mislead customers over allergens can expect to be identified and fined if standards fail to improve after advice and warnings. The council said its trading standards team continues to carry out test purchases at food premises across the borough, with allergen labelling among the areas it checks.
The council described the charges only as food safety offences and did not cite the specific legislation behind them. It said dairy served in a dish marketed as dairy-free poses a potential risk to health for customers with a milk allergy.
Barnsley's case is not isolated: hospitality operators elsewhere in Britain are navigating their own penalties and closures this autumn, even as kitchens such as Florence Knight's new London restaurant keep opening. Barnsley Council has not said whether it plans further test purchases at the Darton premises.
