Knox Council says law prevents naming and shaming of two eateries
KNOX Council has received 107 complaints about food outlets in the area this year but only two fines have been issued, and the council won’t name those in breach of the law.
One of the businesses was fined for trading while unregistered and the other for unclean premises.
But the council’s city development director Angelo Kourambas said it was only allowed to name and shame businesses that had been convicted by the courts.
Mr Kourambas said council officers had inspected 583 outlets so far this year but no businesses had been prosecuted.
He said follow-up inspections were carried out at the two outlets to ensure they were complying with the Food Act.
Mr Kourambas said the council’s health services department had a “number of options” available to deal with businesses who were found to be operating outside the law, from official warnings to fines and court action.
“Prior to the instigation of (court) proceedings the council considers the risk to public health, the premise history and whether the proprietor is knowingly breaking the law,” Mr Kourambas said.
He said the council carried out random inspections of food premises throughout the year as well as following up on complaints from the public.
If a business is convicted, they are named and shamed on the Heath and Human Services Department’s Food Act convictions register.
According to the register, Scoresby’s Cafe Licious was the last Knox business to be prosecuted, in July last year.
Paigemia Pty Ltd, the company which owns the cafe, was fined $1694 for operating from an unregistered site. The company’s director was also fined $200.
At the upper end of the scale, Wantirna’s Mei Jing copped a $12,349 fine in June last year for a number of offences, including poor food handling and storage and failing to keep out pests.
Source: Knox Leader, Jordy Atkinson, 27th August 2015
Originally published as: Knox Council says law prevents naming and shaming of two eateries
