An Australian company has been fined after a case of botulism was linked to its incorrectly labeled bottles.
Inside Out Nutritious Goods pleaded guilty at the first opportunity to 10 offenses brought by the regulator, the NSW Food Authority.
The defendant was ordered to pay $120,000 (U.S. $78,000) and $75,000 ($48,000) to cover the prosecutor’s costs by judge Anthony Payne in New South Wales (NSW) Supreme Court.
The offenses occurred between October 2022 and January 2023. Incorrect storage instructions were printed on labels of almond milk and oat milk products sold by Inside Out to Woolworths.
One man fell seriously ill after drinking the dairy alternative and was hospitalized for almost six months.
Labeling mistake
According to the decision, the heat pasteurization process for the products was insufficient to inactivate Clostridium botulinum, the bacteria that can cause botulism poisoning. Offenses involved the incorrect labeling of 10 batches of almond and oat milk products, comprising 46,494 bottles.
Drinks were required to have the following storage instructions on their label: “The products must be kept refrigerated at all times (below 5 degrees C).” Instead, they were incorrectly labeled with: “Once opened, keep refrigerated and consume within 5 days”.
The labeling mistake was the result of human error. The incorrect label was prepared for another, shelf-stable Ultra High Temperature (UHT) product, but was inadvertently copied across to the new product packaging. The error was not detected at the proof-reading stage by Inside Out.
In January 2023, internal company emails indicated the mislabeling had been discovered and a risk assessment was conducted. In February, a food recall information sheet was prepared. Of the 198,550 incorrectly labeled bottles sold, 177,881 could not be accounted for. As part of sentencing, the judge considered the delay in recalling the products.
Consumer illness
Corrective actions by Inside Out included staffing and process changes as well as modifying its quality manual and Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points production flow diagram.
In November 2022, Karyn McGrigor purchased Unsweetened Almond Milk from the Woolworths online store. McGrigor stored the bottles in a cupboard in the kitchen. Her partner, Mr Mace, later consumed the almond milk and became seriously ill. In January 2023, one of these bottles tested positive for Clostridium botulinum.
Mace was hospitalized for 188 days from January to July 2023. The 61-year-old spent 147 days in the Intensive Care Ward and received a formal diagnosis of botulism in February 2023.
The judge was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Mace became ill after drinking the Inside Out product. However, it was not proven that Mace or his partner acted upon the label’s directions before storing the product in a cupboard. The judge was not satisfied that the incorrect storage instructions played any part in causing illness.
“The most important findings are that this offending was essentially a closely connected series of inadvertent errors, leading to the offending conduct which had a low risk of harm but potentially catastrophic consequences if that harm came to pass,” according to the ruling.
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