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Food Safety Watchdog Finds Violations at Russian Burger King

People standing in line at the first Burger King branch to open its doors in Moscow in 2010.

A Russian subsidiary of U.S. fast-food chain Burger King has been fined $2,600 after health inspectors discovered food safety violations at a branch in Moscow.

The Moscow Arbitration Court imposed the 100,000-ruble ($2,600) fine after nonfood items — a milk-shake machine and onion and tomato slicers — were stored next to refrigerated food products at a Burger King on Prospekt Mira, state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported Wednesday.

Inspectors also found flies buzzing around "production and storage facilitIes" at the restaurant, the report said.

The fine was levied by the court at the request of Russia's food safety watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, which said the sanitary violations posed a risk to human life.

The fine comes just weeks after Rospotrebnadzor shut down several McDonald's branches in Moscow over food safety violations.

Burger Rus, the Russian subsidiary of Burger King, has 10 days to lodge an appeal against the fine.

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