Australian state cracks down on backyard butchers
A New South Wales Food Authority crackdown on backyard butchers has caught unlicensed operators producing and selling smallgoods from homes in Sydney.
The NSW has been targeting illicit meat processors and confiscated almost 120 kilograms of homemade nem chua - a Vietnamese-style fermented pork.
The authority made 10 seizures of the product from illegal processors operating out of homes that were then selling the meat to butchers' shops, restaurants and private consumers.
Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald said the crackdown, which started in March, would continue.
Restaurants challenge 'name and shame' in Sydney
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that a Sydney restaurant is considering legal action against the NSW Food Authority over its controversial name-and-shame website.
Satasia opened in Balmain 28 years ago and has become one of the most popular restaurants in Sydney's inner west.
The owner, Andrew Lum, says that reputation is in tatters after his eatery was fined by the Food Authority, then included on its name-and-shame list alongside rat- and cockroach-infested restaurants.
The database was launched in July to try to improve hygiene standards.
But Mr Lum and other restaurateurs argue its format is unfair.
Several businesses, including Satasia, have consulted lawyers about suing the State Government.
But the Food Authority appears to be immune from legal action, including defamation, under section 133G of the 2003 Food Act, which states: "No liability is incurred by the state, the minister or the Food Authority, for publishing in good faith any information contained on a register."
A University of Sydney senior law lecturer, David Rolph, said,
"The Food Authority clearly takes the view that when you balance it out between the rights of the trader and the right of the public not to consume food prepared in unsafe places, public interest has to prevail."
Lavender Blue Cafe, at McMahons Point, joined the list in November after receiving a fine for a broken probe thermometer. The manager, Andrew Menczel, said: "The list is a good idea in principle but to lump everyone together is wrong. There should be clearer categories for different offences.”
New South Wales, Australia - this is your public health inspector
Every restaurant and cafe in NSW will receive a random health inspection in the next 12 months after Government health bosses were left reeling by the results of their latest food safety crackdown.
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Health and safety inspectors have issued 160 fines in four weeks. The NSW Food Authority launched a "name and shame" website in July to try to improve hygiene standards. Department officials expected to uncover kitchen nightmares but did not envisage dishing out 1000 fines to 600 businesses in 10 months.
The name-and-shame list is updated on Tuesdays and has had more than 1.5million hits since it was put on the Internet.
Live crabs in loo highlight Sydney's name and shame
A fish market that stored crabs in a toilet cubicle is amongst the newest addition to the NSW Government's name and shame list, available at www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/penalty-notices.
Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald said Jemes Fish Market on Liverpool Road, Ashfield, in the city's inner west, was hit with two fines of $660 for storing live crabs in a toilet cubicle.
"This is one of the most outrageous cases of food storage I have ever heard about. It is unhygienic and is just not fair on consumers who pay good money for their food."
Among the other 45 additions to the website this week is Jesters at Forestville in Sydney's north, fined $1980 for having containers of raw foods encrusted with food waste and cockroach activity, and Choy Restaurant in Belmore Road, Randwick, in Sydney's east, which was been slapped with three fines worth $1980 for having a dead rodent in the storage area, as well as vermin activity and unclean premises.
