I Cook Food boss Ian Cook reveals turmoil over woman’s death

The founder of the catering company at the centre of the slug gate saga has revealed his anguish at being told he was responsible for killing an elderly woman.

Ian Cook has revealed his anguish at being told he his product had killed a woman. Picture: Alex Coppel.

The founder of I Cook Foods says he spent weeks thinking he had killed an elderly woman because evidence he had not was hidden.

Ian Cook told the Herald Sun he and his staff spent about a fortnight believing they were responsible for the 2019 death of Jean Painter at Knox Private Hospital.

As he battled to cope with the destruction of his business, Mr Cook said he was also trying to come to terms with feelings that his product had killed Mrs Painter.

“That was what we were told. It was a very dark time,” he said.

I Cook was shut down on February 22 in the aftermath of Ms Painter’s listeria-related death as the Department of Health and Human services blamed it for serving her a contaminated sandwich.

But Knox Council environmental health officer Ray Christy had already concluded Mrs Painter was on a soft food diet, which meant her meals were prepared in-house.

He told the DHHS this verbally on February 21 and sent them a written report the next day.

The report findings were not made known to Mr Cook, who said it was not until March 8 that he and daughter Courtney started to question the company’s culpability.

“You’re looking at your life’s work and it’s all over … you’ve killed someone,” Mr Cook said.

“It was a very emotional time. The thought of having hurt someone is as bad as the consequences. I remember waking up on the 23rd (of February) and not knowing where to turn. I’d been told that we’d done it. This is it.”

Mr Cook said it was during this period that a senior DHHS figure said “we’ve got you dead to rights.”

Meanwhile, some of the 41 staff who lost their job in the closure were also left devastated, questioning whether they bore some responsibility.

“I remember Maria at the front office saying: ‘Oh my god, could we have done this’?”

“Ray Christy tried to tell me what was going on but he couldn’t.”

A parliamentary inquiry into the I Cook affair, which ran last year, has been reconvened after fresh evidence about the case emerged.

The inquiry will continue next week.

Key issues expected to come under scrutiny are whether a council officer planted a slug at the Dandenong South business, why the company was closed despite Mr Christy’s findings and why his report was not made available to last year’s hearings.

Originally published as I Cook Food boss Ian Cook reveals turmoil over woman’s death