Auckland Food Business And Manager Fined $16,500 Over Multiple Food Safety Record Keeping Failures

An Auckland food producer and manager have been fined a total of $16,500 after failing to keep food production records.

All food businesses must have and follow a plan to manage any potential food safety risk to consumers, and the records must be kept for a minimum of four years.

Soma & Sons Limited, which trades as Tasty Foods, along with manager Bhavesh Soma (34) were yesterday (20/01/25) sentenced in the Auckland District Court on two charges under the Food Act, following a successful prosecution by New Zealand Food Safety (NZFS).

Soma & Sons Ltd was fined $13,500 for failing to comply with its Food Control Plan and Mr Soma was fined $3,000 for providing false information to a Food Safety Officer.

New Zealand Food Safety deputy director-general Vincent Arbuckle says Soma & Sons is an experienced food producer and under its Food Control Plan is expected to record samosa cooling and cooking temperatures.

“The rules are there for a reason - to protect consumer health - and the vast majority of food businesses do the right thing. 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,” says Mr Arbuckle.

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

An investigation by NZFS found Soma & Sons Ltd did not record cooling and cooking temperatures as part of its Food Control Plan on four occasions between 2020 and 2022.

“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. NZFS visited Soma & Sons Ltd several times and made it clear what was required, but they deliberately failed to act,” says Mr Arbuckle.

“It’s very disappointing to see this disregard for consumer health. NZFS will continue to hold such businesses to account to ensure consumers are protected and to demonstrate to the vast majority of food businesses that do the right thing, that the overall system is being monitored.”

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