City of Sydney cracks down on unsafe food practices
A number of Sydney eateries have been fined more than $58,000 with the City of Sydney instigating six prosecutions for food safety breaches.
One is the Hong Hai Noodle Bar in the Hunter Connection Food Court.
It was ordered to publish two newspaper notices owning up to six serious food breaches. That included dirty pest-ridden premises and the sale of unsafe food.
The Downing Centre Local Court last week issued the owner Thi Minh Nguyet Vo with the publication order. The owner was fined $22,500 and ordered to pay legal costs of more than $2300.
The restaurateur had form having been prosecuted for 21 breaches and fined $28,000 in 2009 and 2010.
The newspaper advertising order for Ms Vo, in which she was required to publicly acknowledge the offences and the subsequent penalties, was the first ever issued by the City of Sydney to a food establishment.
Another case was Han Qing Zhao from Froth Expresso in Potts Point.
It was prosecuted for four breaches.
These included unclean premises, failing to prevent pests and unsafe food storage practices.
He was fined $8000.
The other eateries that were fined were the Chinese Noodle Bar at 800 George Street in Haymarket, Jap's Table in Darlington and Maya Da Dhaba in Redfern. That particular establishment had a history of non-compliance.
MYT Group Pty Ltd which runs the Saigon Queen restaurant in Darlinghurst was fined almost $10,000 this year for breaches.
Photos taken by inspectors of the Saigon Queen restaurant show cockroaches gathered under shelves, and thick, black grime next to some small disposable cockroach bait.
The crackdown coincides with the NSW Scores on Doors program which is designed to encourage food establishments to display the results of regular health inspections.
And most of Sydney eateries come up well.
There are 2353 City of Sydney premises involved in the program and 1739 have a four- or five-star rating.
by Leon Gettler, July 31st 2017
