Warwick Crown Court heard 47-year-old Kanagusabi Sivasoruban, of St Albans, plead guilty to four charges relating to the way food was prepared and stored at Clarence House, in Warwick New Road, Leamington.

He was fined £600 and ordered to pay Warwick District Council's £2,052 costs, though the judge stressed nobody had been made ill by the lapses.

Prosecutor Naomi Gilchrist said Clarence House was classed as being involved in the production of 'high risk' food because of the vulnerability of its 21 elderly residents.

In addition its was subject to more frequent checks because of the way it had previously been operated.

But when inspectors visited in September, they found a probe to assess if meat was cooked was broken and food in the refrigerator was being stored at 11.1 degrees Centigrade - above the maximum of eight and a temperature at which bacteria could grow.

Of 99 occasions when the temperature in one refrigerator had been recorded, there were only 14 when it was cold enough, with findings often as high as 18 to 20 degrees.

Elsewhere, defrosting meat was kept on a clingfilm-covered tray above bottles of milk and water - another breach of rules.

Miss Gilchrist said: "We do not say it was actually contaminated, but the failure was in not operating a system to ensure it would not be."

Having been served with a hygiene improvement notice, Sivasoruban then failed to meet standards when the premises was inspected in November.

Talbir Singh, defending, said problems stemmed from an ignorance of very detailed European regulations.

His client, he said, employed people at the home who he thought were suitably qualified, and relatives of residents had written praising the food.

Former mental health officer Sivasoruban bought the home five years ago after he and his wife, a doctor, remortgaged their home. But the business only just breaks even, the court heard.

Fining Sivasoruban, Judge Charles Harris QC said: "There is no evidence anyone had been made ill. I do not regard the failure as a very grave one."