A Te Awamutu Bakery has changed its operating procedures following a council investigation into ‘mouldy’ pies.
Sarah’s Bakery and Cafe.
A customer of Sarah’s Bakery and Cafe posted photos of pies to Facebook, which appeared to be mouldy. They said they intended to eat the pies for breakfast, after buying the pies the previous day.
Waipā District Council received a formal complaint about the mouldy pies on June 29. Staff visited the bakery and spoke to bakery owner Reaksmey Ros.
Ros said the council was concerned with the bakery’s discount section where the pies were allegedly bought from.
The discount section, on the bakery’s counter, was for near end-of-life food.
Ros said that the pies would have been thrown out that day, if they were not sold, and that they should not have been eaten the following day.
It is understood that the bakery did not store discounted items in a temperature-controlled environment.
According to the Ministry of Primary Industries, prepared food should not be eaten if it has sat at room temperature (between five and 60 degrees Celsius) for more than two hours.
Ros told The News that because of the incident and council comments, the bakery will no longer be selling leftover goods.
But she claims the online comments were misleading because the Facebook user did not disclose the pies were from the discount section.
The News’ efforts to contact the customer about how the pies were handled before they were eaten have been unsuccessful.
The council is considering what – if any – enforcement action may be appropriate.
