By CASEY NEILL
MONASH Health has refused to confirm whether it threw away food left unattended during a kitchen strike last week – or served it up to patients.
Health Workers Union (HWU) members walked off the job on Wednesday 22 April at the Kingston facility that produces meals for hospitals across the south-east, including Dandenong and Casey.
Union Secretary Diana Asmar said the move followed months of health and safety complaints that had “fallen on deaf ears”.
“We’ve got members that have to prepare food from sub-zero temperatures in freezers because there’s simply not enough room,” she said.
HWU officials told the Journal that workers walked away from the kitchen between 10.30am and 2.30pm.
“No-one was allowed to touch the food. The majority of the food prep was left in an open room for over three hours,” a spokesman said.
“In terms of food handling guidelines, generally it’s about 90 minutes.
“This is danger zone in terms of food contamination, especially salmonella.”
He said the kitchen prepared about 9000 meals on an average day but Wednesdays was a ‘double production’ day.
He said about 40 per cent of the day’s food was left sitting out during the strike – more than 7000 meals.
“If you start giving patients food that hasn’t been prepared properly… then vulnerable patients could die,” Ms Asmar said.
Monash Health spokeswoman Holly Gilligan said the hospital group “had to throw out a small amount of food in accordance with our strict food hygiene guidelines”.
She would not confirm how much food was affected or how the hospitals covered any shortfall in meals.
“The safety of our patients and our staff is and continues to be Monash Health’s first priority, all food produced was produced in line with our approved Food Safety Plan,” Ms Gilligan said.
“There was no impact at Dandenong Hospital, Casey Hospital or any other Monash Health site, all patients received their regular meals.
“Our kitchen staff remained on-site during this time.”
