Indian restaurateur tells health inspector to go back where she came from
An Indian restaurant owner in Brisbane who verbally abused a health inspector who found cockroaches in his kitchen has been hit with a hefty fine.
Ravendra Prasad told a health inspector to go back to her own country after she said he would have to close his Indian Feast St Lucia restaurant down until the he had rectified the poor hygiene in his kitchen. He questioned her ability to do her job because of her Eastern European heritage.
Defence lawyer Peter Trout said Prasad accepted the comments about the officer's country of origin were unacceptable.
He was fined $150 for the verbal abuse and $20,000 for breaching the Food Act.
Indian Feast St Lucia closed its doors for five days in 2017. However, a month later the same officer found cooked food stored at unsafe temperatures.
The restaurant was now clean and operating within the food safety guidelines, Trout said.
Sheridan Randall, 18th January 2019
