The slug, the chef and the premier: Food business seeks Dan Andrews as witness in court case

A food business claiming it was wrongly shut down and a slug was planted on its factory floor has widened its lawsuit, with the premier now in its sights.

Premier Daniel Andrews is set to be dragged into a court battle by a food business that claims it was wrongly shut down and a slug planted in its factory.

The owner of iCook Foods, which was closed after a listeria case in aged care last year, has widened a $26m lawsuit against the Department of Health and Human Services to include Dandenong Council and its health inspectors.

Company owner Ian Cook alleges the department’s decision to wrongly link his company to a listeria-related death was due to misleading and inadequate reports from Dandenong Council.

His case includes the allegation that a slug was planted on site to bolster the case.

Mr Cook alleges the council and its health inspectors were ­influenced by the fact it had a stake in a rival food preparation company called Community Chef — which the council denies.

Community Chef was ­established when Daniel ­Andrews was health minister, and Mr Cook’s legal team is looking to call him and another former health minister, Jenny Mikakos, as witnesses.

Owner of I Cook P/L Ian Cook (R) and son Ben Cook in the kitchen area of their food production business Picture: David Caird

In another twist in the long-running saga, iCook Foods has sent a complaint to Chief Commissioner Shane Patton of Victoria Police about what it says is interference in a criminal probe.

The complaint centres on Dandenong Council staff calling detectives to check on the status of an investigation and to ask about a brief of evidence the Herald Sun revealed in April was being compiled.

The council hit back at the allegations when contacted, and a spokeswoman said it “had every right to inquire of Victoria Police” after allegations were aired in the media.

Documents submitted to court claim Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton was “recklessly indifferent” to the closure of the business by relying on incomplete reports.

Amended claims also zero in on authorised officer Elizabeth Garlick, who reported finding the slug on iCook’s Dandenong factory floor in February, 2019.

A parliamentary probe into the business shutdown has previously grilled Ms Garlick about evidence provided.

Ms Garlick denied planting the slug, but Mr Cook told the inquiry pest experts found the species was not local and did not make its way into the factory “unassisted”.

Chair of the inquiry, upper house Reason Party MP Fiona Patten, said the parliamentary probe raised issues that were taken up by police, “which is appropriate”.