Chinese restaurant found guilty of unsafe food practices causing salmonella
The owners of a Chinese restaurant in Maryborough have pleaded guilty to unsafe food practices and causing salmonella poisoning.
Fortune Chinese restaurant was fined $30,000 for breaches of the food safety act after it left 16 customers with salmonella poisoning, including two so sick they suffered permanent kidney damage.
Owners Zai Jiao Xiao and Gan Ming Ruan pleaded guilty in the Maryborough Magistrates Court to selling unsafe food after customers fell sick in March 2021.
All bit three of 16 customers ended up in hospital.
The restaurant was also operating a buffet style, all-you-can-eat service in contravention of public health orders.
The illnesses came to the attention of the Wide Bay Hospital and Health Service when it saw a social media post from after a woman complained of becoming ill.
An investigation of those presenting symptoms was undertaken, with a questionnaire revealing all had dined at the restaurant on the same night.
Common dishes included chicken and pork.
The restaurant was twice inspected in the aftermath and a number of issues were identified, including lack of temperature control, topping up food in the bain marie instead of putting in new batches, inappropriate storage and refreezing thawed chicken.
There was also a lack of effective cleaning practices.
The worst effects were salmonella gastroenteritis and pancreatitis, an “acute kidney injury” one woman’s kidneys beginning to shut down.
An inspection in February this year found the restaurant had changed its practices since the initial outbreak.
Court documents show the issues were limited to one night and the defendants had been cooperative, however the owners had a history of non-compliance with food safety standards.
Xiao and Ruan were fined $15,000 each and no convictions were recorded.
Irit Jackson, 28th July 2022
