A CORK-based seafood company, that was found guilty of 10 breaches of food safety standards resulting in 219 reported instances of food poisoning in France, has been ordered by a court to pay fines and legal fees amounting to more than €54,000.
Bantry Bay Mussels Ltd, trading as Bantry Bay Seafoods, which employs 100 people in west Cork, admitted to 10 offences that related to the harvest, production and distribution of contaminated mussels following a case brought by the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority.
One further charge was brought against Paul Connolly, managing director of Bantry Bay Seafoods, for failing to comply with requests from fisheries protection officers for a list of all known customers to whom the contaminated product had been supplied.
For nine months, from July 2007 to March 2008, the company was found guilty of repeated offences relating to the shipping of contaminated mussels to customers in Europe and the US, which sparked food safety alerts worldwide.
The fisheries protection authority undertook a “massive” four week investigation into the practices of Bantry Bay Seafood following an initial report by French company Davigel, linking the Cork company to food-related illnesses, in March 2008.
The company pleaded guilty to 10 sample counts of food safety breaches identified by the authority – another 157 counts were struck out by Judge Leo Malone.
The charges included placing food that could be injurious to human health on the market for sale, the failure to meet regulated food hygiene regulations, the failure to inform the relevant food safety authorities of a link to food-related illnesses in France and the submission of a statement known to be false to the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority.
The mussels, harvested by rope-farming methods at locations in west Cork including Snave Bay, contained azaspiracid shellfish poisoning toxins (AZAs) – a naturally occurring biotoxin produced by marine phytoplankton.
Micheál O’Mahony of the authority said the company first became aware of a problem on March 21st, 2008, when contacted by Davigel.
However, it was not made aware of the issue until more than a week later, on March 28th, 2008.
What the the authority initially thought was an isolated incident confined to one customer of the product in France subsequently became a much bigger issue that involved Bantry Bay Seafood customers worldwide.
In defence of the company, Frank Buttimer, solicitor, said there was “a degree of inexperience in relation to what the company was presented with” resulting in an understandable delay in the company’s response.
Tim O’Leary SC, prosecuting, asked the court to hold the company accountable for costs amounting to €50,000, given the enormous amount of work undertaken by the authority during this “massive investigation.”
Judge Malone upheld the request for €50,000 in costs and imposed fines totalling €4,700 on the company.
Mr Connolly was told that the charge against him would be struck out if he paid €1,500 to a charity before February 2010.