New Zealand business fined for failure to keep proper food safety records

An Auckland food producer has been fined for failing to keep production records on four occasions.

Soma & Sons, which trades as Tasty Foods, and manager Bhavesh Soma were sentenced this week in Auckland District Court on two charges under the Food Act, following a prosecution by New Zealand Food Safety.

Soma & Sons was fined NZ $13,500 (U.S. $7,600) for failing to comply with its Food Control Plan and Bhavesh Soma was fined NZ $3,000 (U.S. $1,700) for providing false information to a food safety officer.

Food businesses in New Zealand must have and follow a plan to manage any potential food safety risk to consumers, and records must be kept for at least four years.

Soma & Sons is an experienced producer and under its Food Control Plan, needs to record samosa cooling and cooking temperatures.

In March 2021, a trade level food recall of fully cooked samosas was undertaken because the samosas onsite were being stored at an unsafe temperature and there were no records available for cooking and cooling temperatures.

Failure to act
An investigation by New Zealand Food Safety found Soma & Sons did not record cooling and cooking temperatures as part of its Food Control Plan on at least four occasions between 2020 and 2022. Officials visited the company several times to inform the business about what was required, but these instructions were not acted upon.

Vincent Arbuckle, New Zealand Food Safety deputy director general, said the related rules help to protect consumer health.

“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,” he said.

“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. New Zealand Food Safety visited Soma & Sons several times and made it clear what was required, but they deliberately failed to act. It’s very disappointing to see this disregard for consumer health.”

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