Expert to probe slug claims as I Cook inquiry ramps up

A slug expert has joined a probe into allegations of local government corruption surrounding the closure of I Cook foods.

Victoria Police has engaged a slug expert as part of its investigation into the multi-million dollar closure of I Cook Foods.

The Herald Sun understands an entomologist has filed a report to police investigators probing “slug-gate’’, which centres around allegations of local government corruption.

Doubt has previously been cast over the likelihood of a slug making its way on to the firm’s factory floor, where 41 people were turfed out of work after authorities shut it down.

The slug expert is believed to have visited the Dandenong South business in recent weeks.

Victoria Police declined to comment on the use of the entomologist.

“The investigation into this matter remains ongoing,” a spokesman said. “It would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.”

Ian Cook, the boss of I Cook. Picture: Alex Coppel

I Cook Foods has long ­alleged the slug was planted by a City of Greater Dandenong health inspector, a claim denied by the officer at a parliamentary inquiry earlier this year.

But former council staffer, Kim Rogerson, has told a second parliamentary inquiry, which began last week, the slug was planted and she also saw her colleagues doctoring an image taken of the slug on the factory floor.

The slug was found by a health inspector despite a cleaning operation, known as “chemical fogging”, having been conducted at the factory a day earlier.

The Dandenong South business was shut down in March 2019.

The council subsequently charged I Cook Foods and its founder, Ian Cook, with 96 ­offences under the Food Act.

The prosecution of I Cook Foods and Mr Cook were controversially dropped at a pre-trial hearing.

A photo shows a slug found in the iCook Foods (left) facility that was sent to owners, compared to the original photo (right) taken during a health inspection.

The raids on I Cook were initially sparked by the death of an 86-year-old woman while a patient at Knox Private Hospital.

The listeria found in her system was blamed on a sandwich supplied by I Cook Foods, but no charge was filed over the death.

A report by Ray Christy, a Knox Council environmental health inspector, found the patient was on a “soft diet” and had not consumed a sandwich supplied by I Cook Foods.

Then-acting chief health ­officer Brett Sutton signed off on the I Cook Foods closure order despite the government receiving the report hours ­before shutting down the ­factory.

I Cook Foods never recovered from the temporary shutdown.

Police use of the slug expert appears to indicate a more ­forensic inquiry than the initial investigation.

In that probe, detectives did not interview witnesses, nor a number of people assessed as being “persons of interest”.