Maggots in meat-cutting equipment at grocery shop
A Christchurch grocer cut up goat meat he sold to restaurants and the public with a bandsaw found to be contaminated with bird faeces and maggots.
Shop ND Save owner Ananda Krishna pleaded guilty in the Christchurch District Court on Thursday to having goat meat in his possession that had not been processed in accordance with the Animal Products Act, failing to have a risk management programme in place to ensure compliance with the Act, and carrying out regulated animal product and homekill operations at the same premises.
The 53-year-old’s illegal meat processing activities came to the attention of the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) when a senior food safety officer for the Christchurch City Council visited the grocer last May over an unpaid registration application.
A small number of goat carcasses and goat meat were found in the walk-in freezer, and packaged diced goat meat was found in the retail freezer at the front of the Linwood shop.
The food safety officer informed MPI and the shop was searched in June.
Fifty kilograms of diced goat meat was found in the freezer and seized. Krishna supplied invoices for the goat meat, but admitted he had processed some of the meat himself using a bandsaw at the back of the premises.
MPI investigators found the bandsaw and what appeared to be meat and bone particles and bird faeces on the equipment. Maggots fell out when the bandsaw was opened.
An MPI food scientist there was a serious food safety hazard due to the improper storage of raw carcasses and meat, the absence of cleaning and proper maintenance of equipment, and the absence of timetemperature control.
Krishna bulk-packaged goods and animal products such as fish, chicken and red meat from commercial food premises in his shop.
He purchased about 686kg of goat carcasses from registered wholesalers between April 2018 and June 2018 and diced an unknown portion of this meat on the bandsaw outside his shop. The meat was stored and then sold to restaurants and the general public.
Krishna has no formal education or training in food safety.
When interviewed by investigators, Krishna admitted processing the goat meat outside his grocer, but said he was never told he couldn’t.
He also admitted storing unregulated goat meat in the shop’s freezer, but said a relative asked to store the carcasses and meat at the shop. The meat was kept in the freezer alongside regulated chicken and lamb to be sold in his shop.
He said the goat meat that was seized by investigators belonged to his uncle and was intended for personal use.
He has been remanded on bail until his sentencing on April 21.