Report received before iCook Foods shut down clears company of connection to woman’s death

A report’s release cleared the connection between iCook Foods and a woman’s listeria death. Yet hours later, health officials shut the company down.

A sensitive report received by the health department hours before it shut down iCook Foods over a hospital listeria outbreak linked to an elderly woman’s death reveals she did not eat a sandwich supplied by the company.

But authorities ploughed on to close iCook, costing 41 people their jobs, and launched a high-level prosecution with potential prison terms which dragged on until charges were withdrawn months later.

The Herald Sun has seen the Knox Council report - hidden from iCook Foods boss Ian Cook while he was criminally pursued - which reveals 86-year-old patient Jean Painter was restricted to a “soft diet” while a patient at Knox Private Hospital.

Listeria found in Ms Painter’s system was blamed on a sandwich supplied by iCook Foods but there were doubts from the start about whether she ate a sandwich while at Knox.

A report written by Knox Council health officer Ray Christy states sandwiches for patients on a “soft diet” were made in its own kitchen with ingredients not supplied by iCook Foods.

“Soft diet sandwiches without crusts, that are prepared by the catering in-house services in the hospital kitchen in a dedicated area,” the Christy report states.

The Boss of iCook, Ian Cook [left], in the preparation room at the business in Dandenong South. Picture: Alex Coppel.

“The suppliers of the ingredients for sandwiches are provided by other suppliers.”

iCook and six other companies supplied the hospital with “soft diet” foods such as bread, vegetables, ham, cheese, margarine and cakes.

The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) received the report on February 21, 2019, the same day iCook was slapped with a “closure order” signed off by then acting chief health officer Brett Sutton.

Prof Sutton, during a radio interview weeks later, said the listeria linked to iCook had the potential to kill “thousands of people.”

Earlier, on February 18, a snap inspection was made of iCook Foods’ Dandenong South factory.

It is alleged a Greater Dandenong City Council health officer planted a slug on the factory floor during the inspection, now referred to as “slug-gate”, in order to shut iCook Foods down.

Sources say the officer is currently on indefinite sick leave.

The full results of listeria testing at the factory were then withheld from iCook Foods for several weeks while its contracts were bid for by a rival council operated outfit, Community Chef.

The business was later cleared of dangerous listeria contamination levels despite the council knowing within days of its closure the levels were safe.

iCook Foods boss Ian Cook said the Christy report had been buried from them. despite efforts to gain it under Freedom of Information and subpoena after criminal charges were laid against him.

The criminal prosecution, by Greater Dandenong City Council, initially considered indictable offences which could have led to Mr Cook being jailed.

Mr Cook said he was stunned by what was known about the company’s innocence before such drastic action was taken.

“They were happy to see me go to jail to cover up what they had done,” he said.

Mr Cook said Prof. Sutton must have known of the Christy report long before fronting the parliamentary inquiry, where he continued to raise the sandwich.

Ultimately 96 charges which could have reaped $14 million in fines were laid against iCook Foods in June, 2019.

All charges were suddenly dropped four months later.

A court was told charges were being withdrawn due to the potential cost of a prosecution to ratepayers, which to that point was $56,752.

Ms Painter died of a heart condition in the period after contracting listeria.

The Herald Sun last week revealed that the case against an iCook sandwich being consumed by the woman was further bolstered by a legal letter sent to the company.

Lawyers Piper Alderman, acting for hospital operator Healthscope, wrote to iCook indicating doubt about the contaminated sandwich factor.

“We are instructed that there is no evidence of what food products the patient ate at our client’s facility, if any,” Piper Alderman wrote.

“It is also unclear at what location the patient may have consumed any food products which contained listeria.”

The sandwich scenario was still on the table when Prof Sutton addressed a parliamentary inquiry a year later.

“In hospital, the patient only consumed food from the hospital with all food provided by the Knox Private Hospital’s sole caterer, iCook Foods,” he said.

“The patient’s daughter indicated that her mother was fond of eating the sandwiches provided in the hospital.”

A Department of Health spokesman said evidence at the parliamentary inquiry showed four samples from iCook had the same genetic sequence as that found in Mrs Painter.

The spokesman said that the genetic sample was not closely related to any taken from food in recent years in Australia.

But Mr Cook said this was bulls..t and that a Doherty Institute report showed the same strain detected in West Australia and Queensland during that period.

“iCook does not sell to Queensland and WA. That makes this a lie,” he said.

Ian and Ben Cook are suing the DHHS and Greater Dandenong City Council for more than $60 million.