South Bank’s restaurant fined $25,000 after serving “risotto with cockroach”

The DM Restaurant & Jazz Bar at South Bank has been fined more than $25,000 after a customer found a live cockroach in her chicken and mushroom risotto. The dish was served at the four stars DM Jazz Cafe on April the 1^st last year, sparking a council inspection which shut the restaurant down for two days.

The inspection caught the business breaching health regulations, and found the kitchen infested with cockroaches, even uncovered meat and built-up grease was also discovered, Brisbane Magistrates Court heard. Domanni Corporation, which runs the restaurant, pleaded guilty to charges of one count of selling unsuitable food and 10 counts of failing to comply with requirements imposed by the food standards code in relation to the conduct of a food business and was fined $24,000. Owner Doina Poplacinel was fined an additional $1500 with no conviction recorded.

Annette Welsford, who was served the risotto plus cockroach, told to The Courier-Mail outside the court that she had been horrified to find the insect. “I was just about to tip on some parmesan and my daughter-in-law said: ‘Oh my God, it’s a cockroach’,” she said. “There was this cockroach standing up in the bowl waving its legs around.”

She said the manager immediately grabbed the dish, offering another meal, later explaining the cockroach may have been in someone else’s salad and just flew in. “It really ruined the day for us,” she recognised.

Defence barrister Scott Neaves said the restaurant owners, who had previously owned two restaurants in Melbourne after migrating from Romania, had been badly affected by floods. He said the business, which had previously had an unblemished record, had been struggling after making the decision to continue to pay their employees during the flood recovery and only being paid out nine days’ insurance cover despite being closed for months.

Magistrate Anne Thacker said the restaurant had shown it was able to regain its four-star rating with Brisbane City Council soon after the incident, but the fine needed to be a sufficient deterrent. She said the restaurant had not upheld the “high standard that is demanded by our lifestyle here in Brisbane”

By Santi Ivar

Sources:

http://www.couriermail.com.au