A Domino’s pizza franchise in Quakers Hill, NSW, has been fined $116,000 and its director $13,500 for multiple breaches of the NSW Food Act.

Primary Industries Minister Steve Whan said “This is a very significant fine and represents one of the worst examples of food safety and hygiene breaches that weÕve seen in this state. The Court found that the Domino’s store and its director were guilty of a sustained and ongoing disregard for the cleanliness, maintenance and control of pests of the premises.

“Austotal Enterprise Partners, the company that owns the store, pleaded guilty to 18 breaches of the Food Act and the director of the company pleaded guilty to six breaches of the Food Act.”

NSW Food Authority officers began investigations following customer reports of illness after eating products from the franchise.

“Food Authority investigations uncovered what can only be described as appalling conditions in the store, where floors were built up with food waste, dirt, grease and other decomposing matter and drains were found to be in a putrid state and blocked with rotting food,” said Minister Whan.

The franchisor, Domino’s Pizza Enterprises, has issued a statement in response to the breaches, reassuring customers “this is an isolated incident and we have worked closely with the store and all team members to ensure its food safety performance is of the high standards set by the company”.

“We have strict quality control systems in place that start with a national food safety program in our stores where the team members must follow procedures and record food safety parameters set by the Australian Food Standards Code,” the statement reads.

In addition to ingredient quality checks, temperature monitoring, and covering of stored ingredients, there is a cleaning and sanitation schedule to ensure appropriate sanitation standards.

“To verify that our stores maintain this standard,” the statement concludes, “Domino’s has implemented an external team of independent auditors that audits every store in Australia on a regular basis. Domino’s Quakers Hill has passed its last two food safety audits conducted by that external audit team in March 2010 and November 2010.”