Supermarket fined over poison meatballs

A south Auckland supermarket has been fined $45,000 after a kitchen hand put so much preservative in meatballs it endangered a customer's life.

U & S Chand Investments, operators of Otara supermarket Food World, and director Amit Prakash were sentenced today in Manukau District Court on charges under the Food Act.

The charges related to an incident when a kitchen hand preparing meatballs mistook the preservative sodium nitrite for flavouring, resulting in more than 300 times the recommended safe level for food.

The conviction and fine were "an appropriate punishment" for an act that gravely endangered a customer's life, the New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA) said in a statement.

"While New Zealand has an enviable reputation for safe food and such incidents are not common, the sentence sends a clear message," NZFSA director compliance and investigation Geoff Allen said.

" Vigilance in food preparation is vital and the consequences of poor systems and training or inattention, for public health and safety and food businesses, can be severe."

- NZPA