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Food 4 Less Supermarket is located at 64 Atkinson Ave in Ōtāhuhu, south of Auckland.
Rotten chicken boxes, a roach infestation and a filthy shop resulted in a $ 45,000 fine for an Auckland food retailer.
U&S Chand Investments, which operates Food 4 Less in Ōtāhuhu, was prosecuted by Auckland City Council and pleaded guilty to failing to comply with the Food Law in Manukau District Court in 2019.
A decision recently published in December said that Auckland Council food safety officials first visited the supermarket on March 9, 2018 after receiving a complaint from a customer about unsanitary food storage conditions for meat.
During the inspection, officers found dirty facilities, a heavy roach infestation, rotten chicken and meat boxes, a “strong foul smell” from boxes, and unlabeled and uncovered food products.
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The business was ordered to close until the problems were corrected.
Days later, the manager and director of the company, Pradhuman Lal, requested a new inspection where it was found that the problems had been solved.
However, during re-inspection, the food safety officer saw a shipping container full of boxes of garlic with evidence of a roach infestation. Lal was told to get rid of the “dangerous and inappropriate” food.
A new inspection was carried out on April 19, 2018, and 64 boxes of garlic remained in the storage area. Three of the boxes were examined and all were found to be infested with cockroaches.
A second ad for unsafe and inappropriate food was issued.
Regarding the “pest-infested garlic,” defense attorney Manoj Kotigala told Judge Charles Blackie that the boxes were only noticed before officers arrived and were only in storage to be returned to the vendor.
“It was alleged that the garlic would never have reached the public or on display shelves, so it did not pose any danger or harm to the public,” the decision said.
Kotigala said the rotten meat was left out because the butcher shop was being improved and meat storage was limited. He said the meat should be thrown away and would not have reached the public.
However, he acknowledged that rotten meat should not have been kept in the freezer where fresh meat was stored.
The defense attorney said that his client was “extremely sorry” for the lack of general cleanliness and that he had since obtained an A food grade.
Judge Blackie said he “totally rejected” that garlic and rotten meat posed no risk to the public and should be eliminated.
“This is a clear risk of contamination; in fact, the defendant acknowledged that the rotten meat was placed near the fresh meat coolers.
“Having stocks in that state out there was just asking for bacterial growth and more infestation.”
Judge Blackie said he also did not accept the excuse that the rotten meat was stored the way it was due to an improvement in the butcher shop. The state of the premises also showed a “worrying disregard for public health.”
U & S Chand Investments was fined $ 45,000 and $ 130 in court-related costs. The fine was to be made to the Auckland Council, in installments of $ 500 per week that began in January 2020.
