TRADING Standards officers have told how they warned an Indian restaurant owner of the dangers of peanut contamination before the death of Paul Wilson.

The trial of Mohammed Zaman continues at Teesside Crown Court, where the jury heard yesterday how the restaurateur of Indian Garden and Jaipur Spice Indian eateries in Easingwold was warned about using the cheaper ground mixed nut instead of ground almond in recipes.

Paul Wilson died on January 31, 2014 after consuming just 500 micrograms of peanut in his chicken tikka masala dish from Indian Garden – despite assurances from the staff the meal was nut free.

Trading Standards officer Susan Airton said she visited Zaman’s restaurant Jaipur Spice after a complaint was made by the family of Ruby Scott, a teenager who suffered anaphylactic shock after eating what was supposed to be a nut free chicken korma on January 3, 2014.

Mrs Airton said she went to the restaurant to conduct a test purchase and found a large box of blanched ground peanuts, as well as another unmarked bag of ground nut and took samples.

She said: “The test showed the bagged ingredient was coconut but also had almond and peanut in as well.

“The other was mainly peanuts but also contained almonds. I told Mr Zaman he must inform customers they were using peanuts, not just almonds as stated on the menu.

“He told me he had other restaurants and I advised him to do the same throughout his businesses.”

The court heard how Mr Wilson, deputy manager of the Oak Tree pub in Helperby, near Thirsk, would not take risks with his health and would avoid all nuts as a matter of course – and if eating out would avoid anything which was not guaranteed to be nut free.

Following Mr Wilson’s death, Mrs Airton visited the Indian Garden with senior Trading Standards officer Robert Blacklock and took further samples.

Mr Blacklock said the restaurant had no visual procedures for staff in preparing food for allergy sufferers.

He said: “I told Mr Zaman he was not in a position to serve nut free meals – I advised him to put up notices in the restaurants, to stop using the ground nut powders, and to re-order the pure almond power straight away.”

Mr Blacklock said Zaman complied with his advice – but that another test purchase days later proved there was still a potentially deadly peanut contamination due to chefs having used the same spoons for each ingredient, rather than having different spoons.

Zaman, of Huntington, York, denies manslaughter by gross negligence, perverting the course of justice and six food safety offences.

The trial continues.