A Department of Health inspector has threatened the Canberra Blind Society with prosecution and a $20,000 fine for preparing food for public functions without a licence. The 12 women on the society’s auxiliary raise about $20,000 a year catering at functions with food prepared in their own kitchens. Now the department is demanding the society be licensed. “”They want to inspect our kitchens; we won’t stand for it,” the society’s president Molly Clark said in her spotlessly clean kitchen at her home in Griffith. “”And they want our recipes.” The department says it wants to reduce risks of food poisoning and would not charge fees to a charity. Money raised by the society is used to run the society’s office and is needed since a government grant was cut three years ago.
“If we lose our catering, we’ll have to reapply for the government grant,” Mrs Clark said. The society has been catering all meals and refreshments for 12 years, including for ACT Government bodies. The only complaint has not been about the food, but a request six years ago that the society be licensed that could not be enforced. The passing of the Food Act in 1992 has changed that. The department wrote to the society saying, (SUBS: plse leave in bureaucratic Capitals!) “”A search of our records has revealed that a Food Licence for your premises has not yet been issued. . . . The sale of food from food premises which do not hold a current licence breaches the requirements of the Food Act and can incur a maximum penalty of $5000 for an individual or $25,000 for a company.” The amount were in bold type. “”A moratorium of a few weeks is planned, after which legal proceedings will be commenced ”.
The letter came with a form, contact numbers and details on how to get licensed. One of the licence requirements is for food preparers to do a course which costs $120. Mrs Clark said, “”I’ve been cooking for . . . let me see . . . 70 years without a complaint.” She didn’t think a course would teach her anything she didn’t already know. Opposition Leader Kate Carnell said the society should be exempt from licensing and provisions of the Food Act empowered the Minister to do it. The director of the public and environmental health service, Alec Percival, said he was sure he could teach Mrs Clark nothing about menus and presentation but his service could help with lessons on micro-biology. “”We are about reducing hazard,” he said. The modern food distribution chain was getting longer. Manufacturers often pre-cooked food. Domestic kitchens could not heat and cool large quantities of food quickly enough.
“In the old days you could use the walls, floors and ceiling approach _ if they are clean all is well,” he said. “”But nowadays we know the big problem with food poisoning comes from the length of time food is left at temperatures between 60 degrees and five degrees.” His message to the society was _ if you show us you have reduced the hazard we have no problems. The society’s treasurer, Judith Baldwin, said it would be impossible to comply with some of the detailed requirements the department wanted. The society’s volunteers could not fulfil the requirements of a commercial kitchen. She knew other charities catering that had not been approached and wondered why the society was being discriminated against. “”We are not even competing with the commercial people,” she said. “”Our people could not afford commercial prices and the commercial people could not do the sort of job we do. We do all the washing up. We serve people. Provide flowers, serviettes tablecloths. The lot.”