Café owner pleads guilty to offences against Food Act

On Friday 19 August 2016, Crown Law represented Queensland Health in a prosecution against Bella Vue TC Pty Ltd, trading as Grocer and Grind café, and its executive officer, Ms Taletha March.

Both defendants pleaded guilty to offences against the Food Act 2006. The corporate offender was charged with two offences against s 35 (2) of the Act for the sale of unsafe food, and Ms March with two offences against s 260 of the Act for failing to ensure that the corporation complied with s 35 of the Act.

The offences occurred over the weekend of 7 and 8 March 2015 when thirty customers were confirmed to have contracted salmonellosis. Twenty-two of those customers were admitted to hospital including one in intensive care. They suffered severe symptoms including nausea, stomach cramps, vomiting, fever, diarrhoea and chills. The salmonella strain found at Grocer and Grind was able to be traced back to the egg farm who supplied the café. Salmonella from the outside of the egg had contaminated the food in the café due to the handling practices of staff. The likelihood was that the hollandaise sauce had been contaminated through temperature abuse and poor food handling skills. Further contamination had occurred throughout the kitchen due to the food handling practices of the café. The contamination had spread to food and kitchen items that did not contain eggs, such as guacamole, and on the sink taps, handles and on tea towels. Most of the customers who became ill had eaten an eggs benedict meal, but two customers who became ill had not eaten food containing hollandaise sauce.

Expert evidence was obtained advising that eggs laid in Australia do not have internalised salmonella, and there is no requirement for eggs to be sold completely salmonella free on the shell. Any salmonella found on egg shells in Australia is relatively low and if a small batch of egg product is made and used up immediately or quickly chilled, salmonella is unlikely to be able to multiply to infective levels. However, if it is allowed to stand at room temperature, the yolk provides an ideal growth medium for any salmonella present. Even if contaminated eggs enter a food premise, adequate procedures to ensure that dishes containing raw eggs are not temperature abused will control the proliferation to low levels incapable of causing food poisoning to this degree.

Evidence at the sentence also included a history of compliance issues where the Gold Coast City Council had issued notices to the café in the year proceeding the offence regarding food safety issues that needed attention. In mitigation, the defence put forth evidence that Ms March had ensured that the café underwent significant improvements in food safety including the introduction of a number of new policies and procedures. It was also submitted that business had been declining since this incident and the café, although still trading seven days a week had lost revenue in the past year.

Her Honour, Magistrate Pirie considered that general and specific deterrence were important sentencing factors, along with the protection of the community which she found to be paramount. The corporate defendant was fined $70 000, and Ms March was fined $7000. No convictions were recorded. Analysts costs of $25 494 were ordered, along with professional costs of $1500.

^{Author: Amanda Meisenhelter}