An Auckland food producer and manager have been fined a total of $16,500 after failing to keep food production records.
Soma & Sons Limited, which trades as Tasty Foods, and 34-year-old manager Bhavesh Soma were sentenced in the Auckland District Court on two charges under the Food Act, following a prosecution by New Zealand Food Safety.
According to Ministry for Primary Industries, all food businesses must have and follow a plan to manage any potential food safety risk to consumers, and the records must be kept for a minimum of four years.
NZ Food Safety deputy director-general Vincent Arbuckle said Soma & Sons was an experienced food producer and was expected to record samosa cooling and cooking temperatures under its Food Control Plan.
“The rules are there for a reason — to protect consumer health — and the vast majority of food businesses do the right thing.
“Good record keeping is an important part of a food safety culture and ensures that if there was a food safety risk to consumers we’d be able to access records and quickly find the origin. Poor record keeping makes this challenging and increases the risk to people’s health,” said Arbuckle.
Samosas kept at unsafe temperature
In March 2021, a trade level food recall of fully cooked samosas was undertaken because the samosas found on site were being stored at an unsafe temperature and there were no records available for cooking and cooling temperatures.
An investigation by NZ Food Safety found Soma & Sons Ltd did not record cooling and cooking temperatures as part of its Food Control Plan on four occasions between 2020 and 2022.
Soma & Sons Ltd was fined $13,500 for failing to comply with its Food Control Plan and Soma was fined $3000 for providing false information to a food safety officer.
Arbuckle said it was “very disappointing to see this disregard for consumer health”.
“While we are not aware of anyone becoming ill from eating these products, the absence of records means there is no assurance that the plan is being followed. NZ Food Safety visited Soma & Sons Ltd several times and made it clear what was required, but they deliberately failed to act,” he said.