Albury Burger Bar fined for salmonella outbreak
An Albury takeaway restaurant has been fined following a salmonella outbreak that resulted in more than 170 people falling ill after eating food from the Albury Burger Bar, Minister Steve Whan said today.
“Investigations conducted by the NSW Food Authority have determined the cause of the outbreak to be a raw egg aioli product that was contaminated with salmonella,” Minister Whan said.
“The product in question was sold from the premises between the 14th and 17th of January this year and the Albury Burger Bar has been fined for selling unsafe food.
“They have also been issued with a fine for handling food in a manner that renders it unsafe, after it was found the product was made on the premises with no effective pathogen control measures in place.”
The NSW Food Authority was contacted by the Greater Southern Area Health Service following a number of reports of illness where all of the patients had eaten at the same food outlet.
The NSW Food Authority, in conjunction with Albury Council, immediately commenced food and environmental sampling of the premises, the owner co operated with a request to voluntarily close the premises until a prohibition order was served, preventing it from trading until a full and complete investigation could determine the source and cause of the illness.
A clearance certificate was subsequently issued allowing the premises to commence trading again.
The Albury Burger Bar was fined $660 for each of the penalties issued.
Minister Whan said the Albury Burger Bar would now be placed on the Name and Shame register where consumers can find information about food businesses that had breached food safety laws.
“Placement on this list is punishment in itself because the public can freely access this information and make an informed decision about where they might choose to spend their money,” Minister Whan said.
“Consumers have the right to purchase food safe in the knowledge it is not going to make them ill.
“If a business fails to comply with food safety requirements under the Food Standards Code, they will face the consequences.”
It’s so important for businesses such as takeaway are taught the proper hygiene procedures that helps eliminate outbreaks such as salmonella outbreak…. which has such devastating effects on their unsuspecting customers.
Hopefully health inspections on premises who have been placed on the ‘Name & Shame’ register are done more regularly to bring them back into line.