By Engelbert Schmidl
THERE’S NO DIRT in Hobsons Bay City Council’s kitchen when it comes to food safety regulation.
A Saturday Age report on 23 June said Hobsons Bay was one of four councils that had not prosecuted a food safety breach in more than four years.
The council’s director of business and finance, Glenn O’Sullivan, said a recent independent audit confirmed the council was meeting all of its responsibilities under the Food Act.
“Where food premises in Hobsons Bay have been non-compliant, we have found the threat of closure and on-the-spot fines under the council’s local law to be effective in immediately removing any risk to the community. It has not been necessary to pursue prosecution in these cases,” he said.
Tony Napoli, a trained chef and owner of Sam’s Boat Shed restaurant in Williamstown, said the council was “very active” with inspections.
His restaurant recently spent $20,000 complying with council requirements.
The council’s time frame to complete the renovations was very reasonable, he said.
“Council do play a pretty active role and they are approachable. When you need clarification with something like new legislation they walk you through it rather than just say sort it out for yourself,” he said.
The owner of Williams-town restaurant Al Porto Vecchio, Brigitte Fava, echoed Mr Napoli’s comments.
She said the council did their job “quite well, they are very easy to get along with".
“They do definitely come back and follow up but give you a reasonable time frame.”
The owner of Papa’s Pizza and Pasta Shop in Altona Meadows, Branko Mihaljevic, also praised the council and its officers.
Mr Mihaljevic’s only concern was that checks might not be regular enough for certain outlets.
“More regular checks would be good. I certainly do wish take-away food would get a little more scrutiny,” he said.
There are 708 food premises listed on the council’s system, including a number of market stalls.
The council’s public health unit visits all food premises at least once a year, with some higher risk premises visited more frequently. The council often visited premises that had received previous warnings several times per year, Mr O’Sullivan said.
It employed three environmental health officers directly responsible for food safety, he said, as well as casual environmental health officers at various times throughout the year to meet inspection targets.
