A chef at an Indian restaurant in the U.K. was caught wiping his bottom with his hand before preparing food and is citing “cultural reasons” in court.

Food inspectors say 46-year-old Mahbub Chowdhury, from Swindon kept a dirty bottle of fecal matter in the kitchen of Yeahya Flavour of Asia restaurant.

When asked about it, Chowdhury said he filled the empty milk bottle with water from the kitchen and used it to wash his hands after cleaning his bottom with it in the bathroom. Chowdhury claims he does not use toilet paper for “cultural reasons,” reports The Sun.

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The chef often cooked meat and fish curries for unsuspecting customers at the take-out restaurant. The establishment is run out of a rented kitchen at the Nine Elms pub.

Chowdhury pleaded guilty to 10 counts of violating food hygiene regulations at Swindon Magistrates Court. He no longer works at the restaurant, but was fined $7,100 last year for 10 similar food safety violations, reports Daily Mail.

Prosecutor Rosie Heath said environmental health officers who visited the Indian restaurant in May 2015 found “very poor standards of hygiene.”

“In the kitchen under the double sinks [they] found an empty plastic milk bottle which was extremely dirty and was covered with brown fingerprints,” Heath says.

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“When asked, Mr. Chowdhury explained he filled the bottle with water from the kitchen taps and used it to clean his bottom after visiting the toilet.

“He did not use toilet paper for cultural reasons. Inspectors concluded the brown fingerprints was fecal matter.”

Chowdhury’s attorney, Mark Glendenning, said the milk bottle was never tested and the spots may have been spices.

Despite the allegations, Yeahya Flavour of Asia restaurant, held a 4.5/6 rating on the review website Just Eat, according to The Sun.

Chowdhury will be given a verdict at Swindon Crown Court.

Sources: Daily Mail, The Sun / Photo credit: SWNS via The Sun