Council officer slugs it out at I Cook Foods inquiry

Chief health officer Brett Sutton will give evidence about his closure of I Cook Foods after a council officer denied planting the slug.

A parliamentary inquiry is looking at whether a slug was planted at I Cook Foods. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Paul Jeffers

Chief health officer Brett Sutton will on Thursday front an inquiry into the closure of I Cook Foods.

Prof Sutton signed off on the shut down of the food business in February 2019 after allegations a woman had died from a listeria outbreak at Knox Private Hospital.

But the Herald Sun has obtained emails in which Prof Sutton was warned by his own DHHS staff there was “no record of foods eaten by patients” on the day he signed the closure order.

The email suggests the DHHS were unsure of the source of the listeria which contributed to the death of the elderly patient.

The DHHS email reads: “no records of what foods eaten by patients, choose from a wide menu.”

It was sent to Prof Sutton on February 22, 2019, at 8.09pm, only hours after signing off on the closure order.

Ian Cook from I Cook Foods and former Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Kel Glare with the Slug Truck on Wednesday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Paul Jeffers

Chief health officer Brett Sutton. Picture: Sarah Matray

A health department spokesman said the department could not comment on the email before Thursday’s hearing.

“This matter is currently before the Parliamentary Inquiry and it would be inappropriate for the department to comment before Prof Brett Sutton and other departmental officers appear tomorrow,” the spokesman said on Wednesday.

The email coincides with DHHS receipt of a report by Knox Council officer Ray Christy, who cast doubt on whether the patient had eaten a sandwich after he audited the hospital.

Mr Christy noted the patient had been placed on a “soft diet’’ and only ate food made in the hospital’s kitchen.

Mr Christy has also given evidence that the hospital’s other food suppliers were not investigated and that no other patients fell ill from listeria.

I Cook was hit with 96 charges by the council over alleged breaches of the Food Act before it dropped all charges.

The inquiry will also hear from former health minister Jenny Mikakos when it resumes on Thursday.

A council health officer accused of planting a slug at I Cook Foods told the parliamentary inquiry on Wednesday she believes it fell from a storage box.

Greater Dandenong CEO John Bennie. Picture: Eugene Hyland

Greater Dandenong City Council environmental health officer Elizabeth Garlick denied to the inquiry for a second time that she planted the slug or that it she had smuggled it into the factory in her pocket.

She also strenuously refuted suggestions she had conspired with supervisor Leanne Johnson to doctor photos of the mollusc for their prosecution case against I Cook Foods.

“No, the slug was not planted and the photo was definitely not altered in any way,” Ms Garlick said.

Ms Johnson also denied the allegations of setting up I Cook Foods.

The officers were backed by the council’s chief executive, John Bennie.

He said if there was any wrongdoing by council, including colluding with the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to shut down I Cook Foods, “I would expect Victoria Police to find it.”

“No slug was planted. No photos were doctored,” Mr Bennie said.

Founder Ian Cook has alleged officials lied in an original inquiry held in 2020.

“He has accused almost everyone of lying, and I absolutely reject that we lied to the committee,” Mr Bennie said on Thursday.

“He says there was a concerted effort to close down his business so Community Chef would benefit, he says pressure was exerted, he calls it a conspiracy.

“But let’s call it what it is – allegations council conspired with the DHHS and Professor Brett Sutton to pervert the course of justice.

“There was no conspiracy.”

Mr Cook has alleged his business was considered a commercial threat to the council’s partly owned catering company, Community Chef.

Mr Bennie rubbished the claims during the hearing, calling it a diversion tactic.

“No slug was planted, no images were doctored,” he said.

“It has always been Council’s position that all of this is a diversion.”

Victoria Police is currently probing the I Cook saga.