Razor blade found in bread
A company that runs a Coburg bakery has been penalised $6300 after two customers found part of a razor blade in a loaf of bread.
The company responsible for O'Heas Bakery and Deli pleaded guilty in the Melbourne Magistrates Court yesterday to a charge of selling unsafe food after the blade was found last June.
The court heard Arena Brothers (Vic) Pty Ltd operates the family owned bakery, which supplied bread to a stall at Queen Victoria Market.
Advertisement: Story continues below On June 25, the female customer bought a sliced loaf of sourdough dark rye bread from the market stall that had been supplied by O'Heas Bakery on the same day, Prosecutor Trevor Wallwork said.
Mr Wallwork said that two days later the couple ate slices of the bread with soup.
"I was having soup with bread slices from the loaf and noticed what I thought was foil protruding from a slice of the bread," the man said in a summary read by Mr Wallwork.
The main said that "on close investigation it turned out to be half a razor blade", with one end protruding, which he removed from the bread.
He reported the discovery to Melbourne City Council the next morning and a council health officer noted there was evidence of bread particles stuck to the blade "that indicated that the blade had been baked into the bread".
That claim was denied by defence counsel Justin Foster, who said it was the first incident of its kind since the bakery opened in 1956 and the directors were "shocked and horrified" to learn of the discovery.
Council officers who inspected the Coburg bakery on July 6 were told the blade was attached to a "scraper knife" used to scour loaves before baking.
The court heard such blades had since been removed from the bakery and replaced with two small knives.
Council officers believed staff may have put a blunt blade into a full bag of flour by accident. The court heard the bakery used empty flour bags as rubbish bags.
A company director later told the officers: "We can have as many procedures in place as you want but I don't think there is a procedure to stop stupidity."
Magistrate Philip Ginnane released the company on an undertaking with conviction to be on good behaviour for 12 months, fined it $2500 and ordered it pay $3800 costs.
The court heard the maximum penalty for the charge was a $200,000 fine.
Three other charges under the Food Act against the four directors of Arena Brothers were withdrawn.
Source: The Age, 10 May 2012
