Box Village Bakery: Owner apologises after salmonella outbreak, offers free food
THE woman who had an emergency C-section after falling victim to the massive salmonella outbreak at a Sydney bakery is devastated her husband missed out on the birth of their child because he was also too sick.
NEW mum Ashley Buchanan doesn’t want a free chicken roll or an apology from the owner of a Sylvania bakery at the centre of a food poisoning incident.
The Kiama woman would rather have shared the birth of her first child with her husband and held baby Ava in her arms during her first moments.
Instead, Ava was born four weeks early by emergency caesarean after Ms Buchanan went into labour brought on by stomach cramping after she and husband Caine both ate a dodgy chicken roll from the Box Village Bakery on Sunday.
Dodgy chicken schnitzel and pork rolls sold from Sylvania’s popular Box Village Bakery over the last week landed 27 people in hospital with severe gastro-like symptoms of vomiting and diarrhoea.
Fifteen people suffering salmonella were still in hospital.
Mr Buchanan was also vomiting so profusely that he was not allowed into the operating theatre to support his wife and witness their first child’s birth.
“You have this whole image of how the birth of your first child is going to be and that’s just not what happened,” Mrs Buchanan said from her bed at Wollongong Hospital today.
“I didn't get to see (Ava) for 24 hours. We are just really blessed that she is OK.”
While baby Ava is doing well, the Buchanans are still vomiting and severely ill from the suspected food poisoning.
She earlier told 2UE Breakfast with John and Garry it was a “terrifying” experience.
“My husband and I came up for a birthing class and popped in to have lunch at the bakery,” she said.
“We had a hot chicken roll each and by Sunday night we were both admitted to hospital.
“The infection was so severe, I was so sick ... by Tuesday I had deteriorated more and they had to do an emergency caesarean.
“It was all quite frightening, my blood pressure went right down. They had to rush me straight to ICU after the delivery.
“My husband was in hospital at the time but because he was sick he wasn’t allowed to come into theatre to see the birth.”
Bakery owner Hien “Johnny” Dau, 49 — who has run the family-owned business for 12 years — apologised to customers after more than 150 people were struck down with food poisoning, including many with confirmed salmonella poisoning, after buying chicken schnitzel rolls and pork rolls from his takeaway shop.
“All my customers I want to do something, to apologise. I say sorry — that’s no good. I need to do something,” Mr Dau said.
“I feel really bad. I feel sick for people in hospital.”
Mr Dau said he would offer affected customers free food for a few days as an act of goodwill.
However the NSW Food Authority has closed the shop while an investigation is conducted.
The NSW Food Authority closed the bakery on Monday as scores of ill customers continued to flood emergency rooms at Sutherland and St George hospitals.
Mr Dau said when the NSW Food Authority allows him to reopen he would offer free food for one to two days as an act of goodwill.
“If it happens again — finish, no more business,” Mr Dau said.
“I learn from my mistake, I don’t want it to happen again.”
Food Authority inspectors, who spent most of Wednesday at the bakery, returned Thursday to take food for examination.
Inspectors are due to meet with Mr Dau on Monday to help determine what caused the poisoning. He said inspectors have only told him to fix a hole in the ceiling.
He claimed he has no idea how the outbreak happened and said his staff washed their hands and used plastic gloves.
The bakery makes more than 200 rolls a day.
Mr Dau said he had run bakeries in Gymea and Sutherland without any issue and Box Village Bakery had never been listed on the Food Authority’s name-and-shame list for hygiene breaches.
Raymond Pearen, 77, who remains in Sutherland Hospital after being struck down last Friday was unimpressed by the food offer.
He said Mr Dau should financially compensate the customers affected.
“I think that’s pretty ordinary. I think he should put up some money for people.
“I’ve never had anything like this in my life,” he said.
The Food Authority could take court action against Mr Dau but first he must prove the bakery is safe to reopen.
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