Garage food factory fine

A VIGILANT neighbour was the key to unearthing a Springvale backyard food manufacturer working from a garage full of flies, vermin and cockroaches, said food inspectors.
The message from the City of Greater Dandenong’s Environmental Health Department comes after a backyard food manufacturer was fined $30,000 by the Dandenong Magistrates Court last week.
The prosecution followed an investigation by Greater Dandenong Council which found evidence of unsafe food handling and poor food hygiene.
Environmental Health team leader Geoff Fraser this week said the manufacturer was in breach of the Food Act, and was charged under criminal law with offence ‘handling food in a manner the person ought reasonably to have known was unsafe’.
Mr Fraser said a neighbour had alerted the council to the operation after noticing the large volume of food production taking place within a garage on the residential property.
He described the garage conditions as primitive and said food was directly exposed to weather elements, mice, cockroaches and flies, making it a health hazard.
Mr Fraser said investigations had shown the food was being transported to a bakery in the City of Monash.
But Mr Fraser said food safety, despite its importance, was not the greatest message in the case.
Instead, he praised the neighbours who reported the incident, and urged more residents to report suspected illegal food practices to the council.
“Food safety is second to the community vigilance (in this case).
“Had the neighbours not been concerned about the activities next door, they could still have been going on.”
Mr Fraser said it was the first serious case he had encountered in six year of working with the council, and assured residents that a majority of Greater Dandenong food outlets were following legislation, making their food safe.