An award-winning bakery has been temporarily shut down after inspectors uncovered a stomach-churning list of horrors, including rodent droppings scattered across food preparation areas and raw meat juices dripping onto fresh bread.

Albany French Hot Bread Shop, in WA's south-west, has been slugged more than $60,000 in fines, with directors Tan Minh Le and Hoang Thanh Nyguen sentenced over a string of serious health breaches in court on Wednesday. 

The popular Vietnamese bakery in Albany Plaza abruptly closed over the weekend, blaming 'renovations' in a notice stuck to its door.

But inside, inspectors found what prosecutors described as one of the 'worst' cleanliness cases they had ever seen. 

City of Albany prosecutor Tim Beckett said the charges followed inspections on January 16 and 29 but were the culmination of years of warnings, compliance breaches and ignored improvement notices, The West Australian reports. 

During the first visit, officers were hit with a 'strong odour' of mould, with rubbish and dirty food containers strewn across preparation areas.

Inside the cool room, they found mould-covered boxes, thick layers of grime on shelves, and a container of raw meat leaking juices directly onto fresh bread.

Elsewhere, nearly every surface from walls, floors, benches and appliances was coated in grease and dirt, while rodents had defecated on uncovered bread rolls.

Tea towels used to handle food were black with grime, fridge seals were crawling with mould, and the oven floor was caked in burnt-on residue.

Inspectors also found rotten food stored alongside fresh produce, while raw meat was being defrosted in a sink filled with vegetables. 

Ready-to-eat items like pies and sausage rolls were left uncovered on the floor, with no labelling to indicate when they were made or when they expired.

In one particularly alarming find, fresh food was stored alongside personal belongings including cash, reading glasses and even a 'faecal specimen collection jar'.

A follow-up inspection nearly two weeks later found some cleaning had been carried out but the bakery was still deemed to be in an 'unsatisfactory state'.

Officers saw food handlers remove mouldy and rotten food from the cool room before serving ready-to-eat food to customers without washing their hands.

'The food business appeared to lack basic skills and knowledge that is required for safety purposes, such as handwashing, which is critical when operating a food business,' Mr Beckett told the court, as reported by The West Australian. 

'We do a lot of prosecutions under the Food Act, and we would say that the photographs, in particular from January 16, 2026, were some of the worst we would see in relation to the cleanliness of the premises.'

He said the accused's 'ongoing failure to comply with the requirements of the code' had forced the city to prosecute.

Le, Nguyen and the bakery were each charged with eight identical counts of failing to comply with a requirement of the food standards code while conducting a business.

Le, aged 60, pleaded guilty to all charges on April 1, while Nyguen and the company were convicted of additional offences under WA's Food Act. 

Magistrate Rosemarie Myers blasted the bakery's 'systemic' hygiene failures, warning the filthy conditions posed a serious risk to the public.

She said while a follow-up inspection in May showed some improvement, the premises remained heavily contaminated with dirt and mould.

She revealed the City of Albany had been flagging concerns about the bakery's cleanliness as far back as 2023.

'The potential contamination as a result of the mould, the cross-contamination of food, and lack of handwashing causes a potential significant risk of illness to members of the public,' she said.

'The persistent failure to appoint a food safety supervisor increases the risk that the business will fall back into poor hygiene standards.'

Le and Nguyen were each fined $7,000 and ordered to pay $600 in court costs.

The company was fined a further $43,750, along with $1,800 in costs.

The court heard the pair were facing maximum penalties of up to $350,000 each, while the company faced fines of up to $1.75million.

A lawyer acting for the defendants said all parties were 'remorseful' and had apologised for putting the community at risk.

Albany French Hot Bread Shop has won multiple awards from the Baking Association of Australia for its pies.

Online reviews dating back years called on health inspectors to shut the bakery down, while others described the food as 'criminally bad'.