Jude Kitchen and Bar owners fined $20k for food safety breaches

Two restaurant owners have been slapped with a $20,000 fine after health inspectors found multiple live cockroaches and excreta in the kitchen of a trendy Eagle St restaurant.

Jude Kitchen and Bar (Facebook image)

TWO restaurant owners have been slapped with a $20,000 fine after health inspectors found multiple live cockroaches and their excreta in the kitchen of a trendy Eagle St restaurant, a court has heard.

Restaurant owner Jing Li and owner-manager Haoyin Tan were both charged with breaching the Food Act while operating Jude Kitchen and Bar in Eagle St Pier.

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Li was also charged with failing to ensure his business complied with the food safety codes.

Both defendants, who were not present in court, pleaded guilty to the charges at Brisbane Magistrates Court on Thursday.

Lawyer Vincent Pennisi, who represented the defendants, said the restaurant had since closed, and Li had also returned to China.

“I can’t give you any assurance as to Mr Li’s intentions on the future. But it is improbable he would return to Australia and operate a food business in Queensland,” Mr Pennisi told the court.

Jude Kitchen and Bar (Facebook image)

Council’s prosecutor Mark Thomas proposed a heftier penalty for Li as the restaurant’s business owner operator than for Tan who was the restaurant manager.

“He was effectively the proprietor who was obliged to make sure the food business complied with the Food Act and code,” Mr Thomas said.

Mr Thomas said that Tan was also liable as the restaurant’s food licence holder.

In December 2015, the restaurant received four stars in a food safety audit conducted by Brisbane City Council, but this dropped to zero stars by February 2017 when inspectors found the kitchen infested with cockroaches.

In her sentence, Magistrate Bronwyn Springer said cleanliness and maintenance issues at the restaurant breached the Food Act.

“The main issue around pests included multiple live cockroaches and cockroach excreta in and around food preparation areas,” she said.

“Gaps in joins provided harbourage points for pests to breed and hide.”

Magistrate Springer handed down a fine of $20,000 in total.

Li was fined $15,000 and a conviction was recorded and Tan was fined $5000 with no conviction recorded.