Full list of Brisbane restaurants fined for food safety breaches in 2020-21
Thirty-three restaurants, including some of Brisbane’s most popular eateries, have been hit with food safety breach fines totalling more than $600,000 in the past financial year. SEE THE LIST
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Flour crawling with weevils, kitchens of decomposing mice and mouldy chopping boards are among the gut-churning scenes that some of Brisbane's most popular eateries have been fined for in the past financial year.
Brisbane councillor Kim Marx believes the Covid-19 pandemic had a positive impact on hygiene awareness but 33 businesses across the region still shared in more than $600,000 in fines for food safety breaches in the 2020/21 financial year.
Council officers who swooped on cafes and restaurants from Sandgate to Sunnybank were confronted by shocking finds totalling 352 offences.
The offences which business owners faced court for across 12 months spanned “rodent infestations”, food storage and hygiene.
Brisbane City Council could not disclose the names of the involved businesses for legal reasons, however, court reports reveal that culprits include some of the region’s most popular venues.
Cockroaches were found in various parts of George’s Paragon Seafood Restaurant and a container of bread rolls was found on the floor before the popular inner-city eatery and director Michael Tassis faced Brisbane Magistrates Court in September 2020.
They each pleaded guilty to five Brisbane City Council charges and the restaurant was fined $15,000.
Mr Tassis was placed on a 12-month $2500 good behaviour bond with no convictions recorded.
A veteran of Brisbane’s restaurant industry was fined $20,000 in June after four people fell ill from salmonella infection after dining at his cafe.
Raymund Venzin, the sole director of now defunct Paw Paw Cafe Pty Ltd, faced Brisbane Magistrates Court after Queensland Health and council officers found mouldy chopping boards and potentially hazardous food.
Mr Venzin pleaded guilty to seven offences under the Food Act and no convictions were recorded.
A northside restaurant was dubbed the “house of poo” in April after faeces was found in food prep areas and near a hand wash basin in 2019.
House of Fu’s Thong Duy Vo and Vinh Ngoc Tran this year pleaded guilty to three charges each of failing to comply with the food standards code.
Vo and Tran were fined $5,500 each with no convictions recorded.
The number of Brisbane eateries stung with fines for food safety breaches jumped to 33 in the past financial year from 22 in the year prior.
But the percentage of food safety audits that were non-compliant (0 or 2 stars) had decreased over the past five financial years.
More than a quarter of audits completed in the 2016/17 year were non-compliant and that rate dropped to 19 per cent in the 2020/21 year.
Cr Marx, the council’s Civic Cabinet City Standards Chair, said the vast majority of Brisbane’s food businesses did the right thing and had high standards.
“One silver lining of the COVID-19 pandemic has been heightened awareness about the importance of hygiene and we believe this is also having a positive impact on standards,” she said.
The offences that restaurants were fined for did not necessarily occur in the 2020/21 financial year.
BRISBANE EATERIES FINED FOR FOOD SAFETY BREACHES 2020-21
• A Sunnybank business fined $23,000 for 16 offences relating to maintenance issues, significant cleanliness issues and the presence of cockroaches. 15/07/20
• A Brisbane City business fined $11,000 for five offences relating to rodent faeces and cleanliness. 07/08/20
• An Archerfield business fined $24,500 for 16 offences relating to cockroach and rodent activity, hygiene and cleanliness. 25/08/20
• George’s Paragon Seafood Restaurant at Brisbane City fined $15,000 for five offences relating to cockroach and rodent activity, hygiene and cleanliness. No convictions recorded. 11/09/20
• A Brisbane City business fined $18,000 for six offences relating to food storage, cleanliness, maintenance and live and decomposing mice and mice faeces. 15/09/20
• Baked to Perfection at Clayfield fined $16,000 and director Kevin Kielly fined $2,000 for nine offences relating to food storage, cleanliness, maintenance, live and dead mice and mice faeces, dead cockroaches, and live weevils. No convictions were recorded. 18/09/20
• Morning The Peak at Brisbane City fined $15,000 and owner Yee Ching Tsui fined $1,500 for 25 offences relating to live and dead cockroaches and cleanliness. No conviction was recorded. 21/09/20
• A Carindale business fined $17,000 for 12 offences relating to the presence of live and dead cockroaches, cleanliness and maintenance. 22/09/20
• Bulimba cafe and bakery French Twist and director part-owner S’ad Amasheh handed $15,000 in fines for four offences relating to cockroaches and cleanliness. No convictions recorded. 23/09/20
• A Woolloongabba business fined $20,000 for 19 offences relating to cleanliness, cooking and rodent infestations. 28/09/20
• A Carindale business fined $13,000 for 14 offences relating to cleanliness and infestation. 13/10/20
• Good Luck Noodle at Coopers Plains fined $22,000 and owner Fernandes Chang Castillo fined $2,500 for 18 offences relating to cleanliness, food storage, maintenance and presence of vermin. 13/10/2020
• Tuckeria Fresh Mexican at Fortitude Valley fined $18,000 and owner Jordan Birchall fined $1,000 for 12 offences relating to presence of live cockroaches and food storage. No convictions were recorded. 22/10/2020
• An Upper Mt Gravatt business fined $17,500 for eight offences relating to cleanliness, maintenance and presence of live cockroaches. 6/11/2020
• Shots On Creek at Brisbane City fined $10,000 for five offences relating to cleanliness and presence of live cockroaches. No conviction was recorded. 09/11/2020
• A Woolloongabba business fined $15,000 for eight offences relating to cleanliness and evidence of pests. 10/11/2020
• Fortitude Valley’s Ezicafe fined $20,000 for 14 offences relating to cleanliness and maintenance. No convictions were recorded. 06/10/2020
• Salty’s Grill and Café at Ferny Grove fined $22,000 and owner Joshika Sinha fined $1,000 for eight offences relating to rodent droppings and maintenance. Convictions were not recorded. 15/01/2021
• A Sandgate business fined $18,000 for 11 offences relating to cleanliness, rodent droppings and presence of vermin. 03/02/2021
• Happy Bowl Vietnamese Kitchen at Sunnybank business fined $20,000 and owner Cao-Nhan Che fined $2,000 for nine offences relating to cleanliness and presence of cockroaches. 05/02/2021
• A Brisbane City business fined $20,000 for three offences relating to cleanliness, maintenance and presence of live cockroaches. 12/02/2021
• A Manly business fined $16,000 for 12 offences relating to presence of pests and vermin. 12/02/2021
• Cafe Noma at Wavell Heights fined $18,000 for 12 offences relating to maintenance and pests. No convictions were recorded. 26/02/2021.
• Summer House Cafe & Restaurant fined $25,000 for 17 offences relating to maintenance, presence of rats and cockroaches, and food being kept out of temperature control. No conviction was recorded. 01/03/2021
• A Kangaroo Point business fined $12,000 for 12 offences relating to cleanliness, maintenance and rodent faeces. 01/03/2021
• A Wynnum business fined $12,000 for seven offences relating to cleanliness. 19/03/2021
• A Manly West business fined $22,000 for 18 offences relating to rodent faeces. 19/03/2021
• An Upper Mt Gravatt business fined $20,000 for eight offences relating to cleanliness, maintenance and animals and pests. 25/03/2021
• The two owners of House of Fu at Clayfield business fined $5,500 each for three offences relating to cleanliness. Convictions were not recorded. 08/04/2021
• A Carseldine business fined $16,000 for eight offences relating to hygiene. 21/04/2021
• A Wynnum business fined $22,000 for 11 offences relating to cleanliness, maintenance and presence of rodents. 14/05/2021
• Raymund Venzin, the sole director of now defunct Paw Paw Cafe Pty Lt at East Brisbane, fined $20,000 for seven offences relating to hygiene. No convictions recorded. 11/06/2021
• Food truck business Moo Free Burgers fined $19,000 for 10 offences relating to failed pest measures, cleanliness and maintenance at Brisbane Laneway Festival. A conviction was not recorded. 18/06/2021
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