Queensland company takes brunt of judge's fury

Judges who take the law into their own hands only do so under the most extreme circumstances, so the decision to fine a business more than double its original sentence must be taken seriously.

Early this year, Queensland company B&E Packaging pleaded guilty to charges relating to the Imported Food Control Act 1992. The business had sold 1500kg of imported cooked prawns from Vietnam without carrying out the mandatory food safety tests.

In court this week, Presiding District Court Judge Martin SC indicated that the fine should be increased to $20,000 to act as a deterrent to other food importers. The original fine of $7,000 was challenged by the Department of Agriculture that thought the fine was too lenient with regards to the seriousness of the offence.

After testing, it was found the prawns weren’t a health risk – but the company hadn’t taken steps to check this themselves.

The Department of Agriculture’s First Assistant Secretary for Compliance, Raelene Vivian, explained that prawns are an “at risk” food under regulations and businesses must take reasonable steps to ensure they meet health guidelines.

“It is pleasing to see that Judge Martin notes in his findings that any fine imposed needs to be sufficient to erase any profit made from the sale of the product as well as to penalise the guilty party.”

“Risk foods have the potential to cause a medium-to-high public health risk which is why we require compliant test results before consignments of risk foods can enter commerce in Australia.”

Companies need to be aware of the necessity of testing, as breaching Australia’s food safety and importing requirements can attract a fine of up to $330,000.

Data loggers and temperatures

Seafood like prawns can easily be affected by changing temperatures and humidity levels. If kept in an unstable environment, they can easily spoil and become a health risk to consumers.

In this situation, it is recommended for all businesses to have sufficient data loggers on their premises and keep temperature gauges on stand-by.