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A Wanaka pie-maker has been ordered to pay over $11,000 after being convicted of selling a pie with a dangerous filling - a metal sliver.
The bakery, McGregor's Wanaka (2006), was ordered by Judge Kevin Phillips to pay $6000 to the victim, Brendon Love, of Tauranga, who needed emergency surgery to remove a metal sliver from his stomach, the Food Safety Authority (FSA) said.
The bakery, formerly known as the Wanaka Doughbin, admitted selling food that was injurious or harmful to health under the Food Act. It sold the contaminated breakfast pie in August last year.
The company changed its plea to guilty in Alexandra District Court earlier this month, after evidence produced by its own witness that an opener used on baked bean cans was defective.
Researchers at Canterbury University found the can opener caused metal slivers.
Mr Love spent 11 days in hospital, had swelling of his intestinal tract, and difficulties in moving which meant he could no longer compete internationally as an athlete.
As well as the $6000 emotional harm to the victim, the company was convicted and ordered to pay $2417 witness expenses and a further $2800 contribution to the prosecution. Judge Phillips noted the case was intended to be a deterrent and described the relatively low level of fines available under the Food Act as "archaic".
FSA director of compliance Geoff Allen said the conviction was a "salutary lesson" to food businesses that they had an absolute responsibility to protect the safety and suitability of the food they sold.
"It is also heartening that Judge Phillips agrees with FSA that revisions to the current legislation are well overdue," he said in a statement.
- NZPA
