Couple Thu Thi Nguyen and Vung Van Le guilty to storing tonne of seafood without seafood safety licence
A Dandenong couple busted storing more than a tonne of seafood at their home to sell to local restaurants, told food safety officers they used the fish to “feed their chickens”.
South East
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A Dandenong couple busted with more than a tonne of seafood stored at their home claimed they used the food to “feed their chickens”.
Vung Van Le, 55, and Thu Thi Nguyen, 39, pleaded guilty in the Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on March 20 to one count each of not holding a seafood safety licence.
The duo were busted by Primesafe officers in January with the seafood stash stored in various freezers at their residential property.
Primesafe is the Victorian regulator for meat, seafood, poultry and pet meat.
The court heard the couple had been transporting and storing the seafood before onselling it for human consumption, despite initially claiming they used the seafood “for consumption at home” to feed their seven dogs, 40 chickens and numerous other animals.
Ms Nguyen later admitted to interviewing officers that the pair had been buying the seafood from wholesalers before delivering it to restaurants, however claimed “nobody was coming to the home to purchase the food”.
The court heard Ms Nguyen had later obtained all the correct licences and leased a commercial property in Springvale, where the couple had since moved all operation of their distribution business.
Despite the couple’s move towards legitimacy, the prosecution said “it was besides the point”.
“This particular offending was plainly motivated by economic gain,” they said.
“It wasn’t a small amount of seafood — this offending distorts the market for other seafood vendors, it undermines the competition in the market.”
Magistrate Nunzio La Rosa agreed, calling the offending “a matter of some seriousness”.
“Whether you were or weren’t as careful as anybody else who is licensed, we will never know because there was no ability to check,” he said.
Ms Nguyen and Mr Le were both fined and convicted $2000 each.
