Brett Sutton defends his ‘Slug Gate’ decision to shut I Cook foods

Chief health officer Brett Sutton has told a parliamentary inquiry he still backs his call to order the shut-down of I Cook Foods.

Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton has defended his 2019 decision to order the closure of I Cook Foods.

Prof Sutton, speaking at a parliamentary inquiry into the shut-down, said he had made the call based on a number of factors, rather than on a single element.

Among them was that genetic samples of listeria found in 86-year-old Jean Painter after she died at Knox Private Hospital were a very close match to samples taken during testing at I Cook Foods in that period.

He said the type found had not turned up anywhere in Australia in the years before or since.

Prof Sutton said evidence that Mrs Painter consumed a “normal ward diet” during her stay, discussions with an infection control nurse at the hospital and “inadequacies” in I Cook’s food program were also considerations.

He said Dandenong South-based I Cook supplied 7000 meals a week, the vast majority to vulnerable consumers, and there was a “significant public health risk.”

Other Knox suppliers were not checked because the highest risk food was supplied by I Cook, Prof Sutton said.

Asked why there were not other listeria-related cases, Prof Sutton said it was possible some people had consumed the bacteria but did not become unwell.

Chief health officer Brett Sutton. Picture: Getty Images

“Not everyone becomes sick when they ingest contaminated food,” he said.

Prof Sutton was asked about a report on Mrs Painter’s death by Knox Council environmental health officer Ray Christy indicating she had been on a soft food diet, which would have precluded her eating an I Cook sandwich because such items were prepared in-house.

The Christy report, not presented at earlier inquiry hearings last year, was the main reason for their resumption.

Prof Sutton said that by the time the Christy report was received, the closure decision had already been taken.

But he said it would not have changed his decision, anyway, because of the other factors at play.

Prof Sutton apologised for wrongly telling last year’s hearings that I Cook was the only provider of meals at Knox.

Deputy chief health officer Angie Bone said there was no suggestion Mrs Painter had listeriosis before her admission to Knox.

“We followed the evidence. If we hadn’t acted, there may well have been more cases,” she said.

The Boss of I Cook, Ian Cook. Picture: Alex Coppel

Liberal MP George Crozier asked Dr Bone why a company was not closed recently when one of its clients died and listeria samples were found on one of the firm’s meals in the man’s fridge.

Dr Bone said samples from the man and the meal showed a different genomic sequence, meaning there must have been another source for his infection.

Former Health Minister Jenny Mikakos told the hearing questions about the I Cook matter would be best handled by departmental officials.

“That was his (Prof Sutton’s) decision. These powers do not sit with the Minister for Health,” she said.

She apologised to Mr Cook for comments she made in state parliament about his company in the aftermath of the closure and expressed sympathy for him.

Mrs Painter’s daughters, Jo Woodstock and Fiona Wharry said their mother had been seen several times eating sandwiches while at Knox.

Mrs Woodstock said that one one occasion, her mother had remarked: “these don’t taste very nice”.

Originally published as Brett Sutton defends his ‘Slug Gate’ decision to shut I Cook foods