An Auckland-based food producer and manager have landed in hot water, facing fines totaling $16,500 for failing to keep proper food production records.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Soma & Sons Limited, the company behind Tasty Foods, and its 34-year-old manager Bhavesh Soma were handed down penalties in Auckland District Court after being charged under the Food Act. The prosecution was brought by New Zealand Food Safety.
So, what went wrong? According to the Ministry for Primary Industries, every food business is required to have a plan to manage potential food safety risks. Plus, they must keep detailed records for at least four years.
Vincent Arbuckle, Deputy Director-General of New Zealand Food Safety, explained that Soma & Sons, as an experienced food producer, should have been documenting key food safety practices like cooking and cooling temperatures for their samosas under their Food Control Plan.
“These rules are in place for a reason — to protect consumer health,” Arbuckle said. “Most food businesses do the right thing, but record keeping is critical. If something goes wrong, having those records means we can trace the issue quickly. Without them, the risks to people’s health increase significantly.”
Samosas stored unsafely
Back in March 2021, a trade-level recall had to be issued for fully cooked samosas from Soma & Sons because they were found being stored at unsafe temperatures. Worse yet, there were no records of how they were cooked or cooled.
Further investigation revealed that between 2020 and 2022, Soma & Sons failed to log cooking and cooling temperatures on four separate occasions, as required under their Food Control Plan.
As a result, Soma & Sons Limited was fined $13,500 for failing to follow the plan, and manager Bhavesh Soma received a $3,000 fine for giving false information to a food safety officer.
Arbuckle didn’t hold back his disappointment: “It’s very frustrating to see this kind of disregard for consumer health. While no one is known to have gotten sick from these products, the lack of records means there’s no guarantee that the proper safety steps were followed.”
He added that NZ Food Safety had repeatedly visited Soma & Sons and made their requirements clear, but the company still chose not to act.
