The shame of retailers serving up dodgy food

ALMOST 4500 food outlets in South Australia have been fined or warned for selling dodgy food and other health breaches, latest figures show. 
 
Restaurants, cafes, service stations, pubs, takeaway shops and a childcare centre were among those fined up to $2500 each for selling products such as mouldy cheese and meat past its expiry date, as well as having kitchens infested with mice and cockroaches.

Some of these dodgy meals contributed to more than 200 cases of food poisoning - from infants to an 85-year-old - also investigated by health authorities in the same period.

This roll call of food safety law breaches - which had to be obtained from SA Health using Freedom of Information laws - was uncovered by councils in the 12 months to July 2010, but released only this week. The FoI documents reveal:

MORE than 1100 complaints were made in the 2009-10 financial year about restaurants being dirty, causing food poisoning, not storing rubbish hygienically or having pests and "foreign matter" in meals.   More Read