Noble Park Fruit Mart fined $35,000 after rats, rotten meat, leaking sewage found

RATS, buckets of rotten meat and leaking sewage were found at a Noble Park fruit shop that was so filthy “blind Freddy could see” it — and the owner has been hit with a massive fine.

Evidence of rats was found in the filthy Noble Park Fruit Mart. File photo

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RATS, buckets of rotten meat and leaking sewage were found at a Noble Park fruit shop that was so filthy “blind Freddy could see”.

City of Greater Dandenong officers gagged when they opened a bin full of rotting meat that had been in the shop for at least four days, Dandenong Magistrates’ Court heard.

Officers went to Mohammed Naim Azdari’s shop, the Noble Park Fruit Mart on Douglas St on April 20 and 21 after a neighbour complained of a foul smell.

Prosecutor Rebecca Goddard told the court, as well as the rotting meat, they discovered access to a toilet was obstructed and a handwashing basin was caked in dirt, suggesting it was not used.

The cool room was used to store both fresh and waste meat, with the same boxes used for each making it hard to tell the products apart.

Some products were stored on the floor and there was a large amount of food waste under shelves.

There was food residue, dead insects, dirt and debris throughout the store including on top of fridges and floors in the butcher’s area were worn and damaged, which meant they could not be cleaned properly.

Medicine, food and other products were being stored next to a meat slicer and there was evidence that people had been smoking near the food preparation area.

Officers also observed a butcher changing tasks a number of times without changing or washing his gloves.

Azdari was interviewed at the City of Greater Dandenong on May 5 where he told officers the meat bins were emptied twice a week and the floors were cleaned every one or two months.

However, Ms Goddard said Azdari gave different accounts of cleaning procedures making it hard for officers to work out how often cleaning was done.

Azdari, 42, pleaded guilty to 17 charges, all of which carried penalties between $40,000 and $100,000, and was fined $35,000.

Azdari’s defence lawyer said there had not been any cases of food poisoning linked to the shop.

Magistrate Barry Schultz said while Azdari had hired a food safety adviser and spent about $15,000 making the shop compliant, photos of the mess would have made it clear to a lay person that the shop was not up to code.

He said the case was either a “flagrant disregard for proper food handling standards” or Azdari was so absent as a business manager that he was not aware of what his staff did.

“Blind Freddy could see this could not possibly comply,” he said.