One of Britain's top Asian food producers has been fined £12,000 after a court heard how a piece of plastic and a rubber band were found in two of its ready-made meals.

Mumtaz Food Industries Ltd, of Great Horton Road, Bradford, pleaded guilty to four breaches of food safety laws and was also ordered to pay £2,400 costs.

Amjad Ali, prosecuting, told Bradford magistrates yesterday that in November 2001 a man bought a pack of lamb karahi from a local supermarket.

After cooking it and starting to eat it, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his mouth and realised that something had jammed in his teeth. It was a piece of black plastic measuring 2.5cm by 1.5cm.

Environmental health officers were called in and visited the Mumtaz factory, where they found several breaches of food safety regulations. Three women were seen eating their own food in the food preparation area, creating a risk of contamination.

There was no proper stock control or monitoring of conditions in the factory, said Mr Ali.

Less than three months later, a woman found a blue rubber band in some vegetable pakoras she had bought from a store in Saltaire.

Michael Steele, mitigating, said that after starting life as a small restaurant in Bradford the family-run firm had grown in less than 20 years to become a nationally-known food supplier with 100 employees.

The piece of plastic had broken away from some shelving. All the shelving in the factory had since been replaced.

The rubber band was of the type used by wholesalers to tie up leafy vegetables and should never have entered the factory. The fact that it was blue had made it difficult to spot against the green produce.

The incident involving staff eating in a food production area happened at the time of Ramadan, when the firm would sound a bell to let its workers know when they were allowed to break their fast. "They had a free meal awaiting them in the canteen, but they chose to eat their own at their place of work," said Mr Steele.

Instructions and monitoring had since been tightened up, he added. The firm continued to grow rapidly and plans for a new state-of-the-art factory were at an advanced stage.