Victoria's Department of Health ordered the closure of the iCook Foods site in Dandenong South on February 21, notifying City of Ballarat council and other customers on the same day.

The Department linked the death of an elderly woman to listeria found at the factory.

THE SHUTDOWN

However, Ian Cook, who has run iCook Foods for more than 30 years, has said in a statement of claim his factory was wrongly closed and that testing showed the factory was clean. He also said that a later microbiological report showed the level of listeria was a fraction of the permissible limit.

The woman died on February 4 in a private hospital in Melbourne. She was found with listeriosis described as "a rare but serious disease caused by the bacteria listeria monocytogenes".

At the time of the shutdown, the Department of Health said samples of listeria were potentially traceable to the catering company, which supplied meals to the hospital. Listeria is commonly found and can grow in food at refrigeration temperatures.

At the time, iCook Foods provided the City of Ballarat with meals on wheels for its residents, as well as meals to other councils, nursing homes and private hospitals. Since then the City of Ballarat Council has had to source meals on wheels from a variety of different suppliers.

Mr Cook has made the statement of claim because he says the shutdown has cost them millions of dollars and wiped out the value of the company.

"It's devastating," he told The Courier. "We had worked with the City of Dandenong for 30 years, and never had anything against us [before] at all."

He says they complied with all requests made by inspectors after listeria was found in the sandwich. Prior to the shutdown he said the factory was independently assessed as "ultra clean", the cleanest possible category.

A Department of Health spokesperson said the elderly woman died because of "acute pulmonary oedema precipitated by ischaemic heart disease". It said "listeria meningoencephalitis" contributed to the cause of death. In a statement it said: "Genomic sequencing showed a strong link between food samples from iCook Foods and an elderly woman who died in a private hospital in the eastern suburbs."

It said the closure remained in effect until it was satisfied "processes were in place to produce and distribute safe food."

THE REPORT

However, a microbiological report carried out after the factory's shutdown showed that samples from an earlier inspection had levels of listeria less than one-tenth of the safe limit defined by food standards guidelines. Lawyers for iCook Foods have also asked why food samples were not tested for the level of listeria until after the closure occurred.

Although the factory was allowed to re-open its premises in late March, Mr Cook said irretrievable damage had already been done - casting his future and that of the company's 41 employees in doubt. He added the conditions of reopening were so overbearing they did not allow the factory to function properly.

He also said there was a conflict of interest at the City of Greater Dandenong Council, which owns shares in a rival catering company called Community Chef.

THE ALLEGATION

Since then, an environmental health officer for Greater Dandenong council Kim Rogerson has publicly said she was asked to sign an altered statement about inspections at the iCook Foods factory.

She said that added sentences changed the flavour of the statement to reflect badly on iCook Foods.

She says she deleted the additions then went public about her concerns. "I feel I can't sit back and watch a multi-million dollar company go down the tubes," she told The Courier.

She said she had carried out previous inspections at the catering company. "If there were things to do, they were always done and completed in a timely manner," she said.

In a statement, Greater Dandenong Council said it did not believe the allegation was true, but was taking it "extremely seriously".

"Council has reported the matter to IBAC [Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission] in accordance with its mandatory notification requirements and looks forward to an independent and external investigation."

THE $26.4M CLAIM

Lawyers representing iCook Foods are also claiming for the expenses of dumping several tonnes of food, which they say was uncontaminated.

Until its closure iCook Foods had supplied hundreds of thousands of meals to Ballarat's most vulnerable residents since it took over the supply contract for the city's meals on wheels. Around 2,000 meals on wheels are supplied to Ballarat residents each week.

The supply contract for meals on wheels to the City of Ballarat came up for renewal earlier this year. The Courier understands that iCook Foods was invited to be part of the tender process, which is ongoing.

ICook Foods won the contract to supply meals on wheels to Ballarat back in 2016. Previously Ballarat Health Services had provided the service to people in the community since 1969.

Lawyers for iCook Foods sent a statement of claim for $26.4m to the Department of Health and Human Services on May 15. If the department does not respond in 28 days, they say they will take the claim to the Supreme Court.

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