iCook Foods: Parliamentary inquiry finds Greater Dandenong Council failed in its role as a regulator
A pesky slug is at the heart of damning parliamentary inquiry into the forced shutdown of a commercial kitchen has found a southeast council failed in “many aspects” in its role as a regulator.
South East
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A parliamentary inquiry into the forced shutdown of a commercial kitchen in Dandenong South has slammed a council for failing in “many aspects” in its role as a regulator.
In February last year, iCook Foods was closed by the Department of Health after it was blamed for a listeria case in a nursing home.
Greater Dandenong Council then inspected the facility where food was prepared and hit the company with 96 charges, all of which were sensationally withdrawn at court in October.
One of the charges was related to a slug being found on its premises, something the company said must have been planted.
Owner Ian Cook even hired a slug expert to cast doubt on the evidence, including the lack of a trail around the pest and the conditions that were not suited to slugs.
Fiona Patten, who chaired the Legislative Council committee’s eight-week investigation, tabled a report on August 4, critical of the council’s conduct and the state’s “outdated” Food Act.
“In short we found that the closure order was validly executed but that the framework in which the decision to impose the order was made and the processes that led to this decision were inadequate and that iCook Foods was not dealt with in a fair or consistent way,” Ms Patten said.
She said the council failed in many aspects in its role as a regulator.
“The committee received evidence of inconsistent reporting practices, fluctuation in inspection procedures, inadequate processes, inadequate adherence to the processes in place and poor communication by the City of Greater Dandenong,” she said.
The report also noted the committee did not consider it was in a “position nor equipped” with the necessary expertise to determine how the slug came to be present in the iCook Foods kitchen.
“Further, the committee notes that Victoria Police is currently undertaking an investigation assessment of a large volume of evidence provided to it in relation to the closure of iCook Foods,” she said.
The inquiry also raised the existence of a conflict of interest involving the council’s chief executive, John Bennie, in his role on the board of iCook’s rival Community Chef.
During a phone call to Professor Brett Sutton, who was the acting chief health officer at the time, Mr Bennie said he was not able to sign the closure order due to a conflict of interest.
“As the chief executive, if I am involved on the board of Community Chef, I need to be extremely mindful of the matters in relation to regulation,” Mr Bennie said in the public hearings.”
In the report’s recommendations, it states: “The committee believes that on the weight of evidence presented to it, iCook Foods was not properly dealt with by the City of Greater Dandenong.”
“The committee also believes that changes to the Food Act 1984 would be beneficial
in order to ensure that certain processes are consistently regulated and decrease the
likelihood of situations such as this one arising in the future.”
Ratepayers Victoria president Dean Hurlston, who attended the inquiry, said the council’s inconsistent and “somewhat cavalier” approach had been shown to effectively destroy a multi- million dollar business.
“This is not in the interests of the ratepayers it claims to serve and will more than likely lead to a multimillion-dollar lawsuit and damages that ratepayers will again have to foot the bill for,” Mr Hurlston said.
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