Australia: Indian restaurant fined 25,000 Australian dollars for food regulation breaches

Melbourne, May 17 

A Perth-based Indian restaurant has been fined a whopping 25,000 Australian dollars for multiple food regulation breaches.

The Curry Club Indian Restaurant on South Street and its owner Nilish Dokhe were convicted after the restaurant fell short on a number of fronts when it came to cleanliness and not providing appropriate hand washing facilities.

The restaurant was found breaching seven food acts, including failure to store food properly protecting it from the likelihood of contamination, failure to maintain food premises to a standard of cleanliness and failure to clean and sanitise food contact surfaces.

Health inspectors during their visit to the restaurant last December found non-compliance in relation to sewage and water disposal, mouldy cutting boards and a lack of hot water and soap, The West Australian reported.

A spokesman for the City of Fremantle said inspectors found a number of breaches, including an open spoon drain that had been cut across the floor and was “covered in mould and slime”.

"Waste water was also observed leaking directly onto the floor in the main kitchen from drainage pipes located under the sink," he said.

 “Waste water appeared to spill from the wash sink, drains and bucket trap and flow around into the cool room, posing a further risk of cross contamination,” the spokesman said, adding that “a number of chopping boards used for food preparation were warped and mouldy.”

The spokesman said a chest freezer was observed to be “rusty, mouldy and full of old food scraps”, while the cool room door was “covered in a build-up of dirt, mould and grease”.

Drainage pipes under the sink were “mouldy and slimy”, while no hot water, hand soap or hand towels were available.

There was also no chemical sanitiser used to clean food contact surfaces, the dishwasher was not working and several dirty and mouldy dishwashing racks were found.

“A manhole cover in the ceiling was missing, leaving a large opening directly into the ceiling space,” the spokesman said.

The breaches amounted to a fine of 25,000 dollars for the restaurant.

The report quoted the restaurant owner Dokhe as saying that he was not on site during the inspection, however, ensured the kitchen was cleaned to the proper standard the next day.

Other issues identified in an improvement notice issued by the city's health officers, such as cracked tiles, were fixed in the following weeks. — PTI