The owner of a Japanese restaurant in Christchurch has been fined a total of $30,000 and sentenced to six months home detention for selling recalled food and repeatedly breaching immigration law.
Xinchen Liu, the owner of Samurai Bowl on Colombo St, was yesterday sentenced at the Christchurch District Court after pleading guilty last November to one charge under the Food Act for trading in food that was subject to a recall.
On June 1, 2019, New Zealand Food Safety recalled all frozen Samurai Bowl ramen meals made since Liu took over the business after unsafe levels of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) bacteria was found in some samples, the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) said today in a media release.
“The bacteria found in the food can cause nausea, vomiting, stomach cramps and diarrhoea. The consequences can be serious for people with compromised immune systems,” New Zealand Food Safety Acting Deputy Director-General Jenny Bishop said.
The owner claimed the recall had gone ahead, providing pictures to food safety officers as evidence. The recall was closed off in August of that year.
However, the meals were instead stored in freezers. Some of the meals had been defrosted and made available to staff.
Miso soup and meat from the meals were also served to customers at the restaurant,” Bishop said.
“This was deliberate and reckless behaviour and Ms Liu’s actions had potential to cause sickness and health risk for a number of customers.
“Food recalls are conducted to protect consumers from potential harm. People rightly expect food businesses sell food that is safe and suitable.”
Liu was fined $20,000 for the food safety breach and placed on six months’ home detention, alongside another immigration law breaches.
Immigration law breaches
Following a visit to her restaurant in May 2021, immigration inspectors found Liu had supplied them with false or misleading information regarding a migrant at the restaurant.
Liu told officers the migrant did not work for her, which was found to be false. Other immigration officers at the restaurant found the migrant was working as a chef. They also found employees had been rostered to work every day that week on a roster supplied by Liu.
The woman then told the immigration officer that the migrant had a visa and was allowed to work for her. This was also untrue.
Liu then claimed the migrant simply volunteered at the restaurant for 20 hours a week. Inspectors found they were employed as a chef and had been rostered to work between 37 and 78 hours per week for the previous 50 weeks.
Liu pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting three employees to breach their visa conditions and work for her even though she knew it was illegal. She was fined $10,000.
It meant that across all charges, she would need to pay $30,000 in fines and serve six months’ home detention.
“Today’s sentence sends a strong message that breaching immigration law and knowingly supplying false or misleading information to Immigration officials will not be tolerated, and anyone doing so will be held to account,” Jason Perry, MBIE national manager of investigations, said.
Of the three workers at Liu’s business, one chose to leave New Zealand, while the others stayed in the country on valid visas, working to ensure they continued to comply with immigration requirements.