By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A Parliamentary inquiry has been unable to conclude whether a slug was planted by a council inspector in I Cook Foods’ Dandenong South kitchen.
The upper house’s Legal and Social Issues Committee stated it was not “in a position nor equipped with the necessary expertise” to decide the “serious allegation” – also labelled as ‘slug-gate’.
Council environmental health officer Elizabeth Garlick was asked if she planted the slug.
“No, I did not,” she told the committee.
Days later, I Cook Foods was closed by then-Acting Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton on the observations of council inspectors.
It was part of a health department investigation into the death of a hospital patient with listeria.
ICF director Ian Cook alleged that Ms Garlick planted the slug while hunched for 17 seconds in a corner of the factory on 18 February 2019.
A pest controller had found no evidence of slug activity days earlier. Nor had staff that crossed the area 64 times on the same day, Mr Cook told the inquiry.
The pest controller returned afterwards finding “no credibility” to claims that the slug slithered into that location “unassisted”, Mr Cook said.
A slug expert commissioned by ICF found that slug species didn’t live in the area and was nocturnal.
“It should have been asleep at the time it was meant to be crawling into my factory,” Mr Cook said.
Mr Cook alleged the slug was “not the worst example of the damaging criminal behaviour which occurred”.
But the inquiry was “not in a position” to form a view on ICF’s accusation of a broader conspiracy involving City of Greater Dandenong and the Department of Health and Human Services.
Both the council and department were invested in a financially struggling rival company Community Chef.
“The Committee notes that the allegations of conspiracy have been refuted by representatives of the Council, Department and Community Chef.”
There were other areas in which the committee couldn’t get to the bottom.
The inquiry found that Community Chef gained additional business after ICF’s closure.
But it couldn’t determine if the extra business was due to the position held by Greater Dandenong chief executive John Bennie on the Community Chef board.
Nor could it determine a link of “any untoward behaviour” by Mr Bennie, the council, Community Chef or the DHHS.
The committee noted the State Ombudsman did not pursue council whistleblower Kim Rogerson’s allegations that she was pressured to falsify her statements on ICF.
“The investigation did not proceed due to a lack of substantial evidence, not that the Council was cleared of wrongdoing,” the inquiry noted.
The slug evidence formed four of 96 food-safety charges against Mr Cook and ICF. All 96 charges were later withdrawn by the council at Dandenong Magistrates’ Court.
ICF had since delivered a “substantial brief of evidence” on its closure to Victoria Police, the inquiry noted.
“The Committee trusts that this and other matters will be pursued by Victoria Police as part of their usual processes.”
