Plumtree Town (Food Hygiene) By-laws, 2025
Plumtree food hygiene penalties land oddly: US$166,84 for selling contaminated food, US$83,42 for improper handling or trading without a health inspection report, US$33,37 for no uniform — but nil for expired food or failing to report disease.
These by-laws regulate food hygiene in the Plumtree Town Council area: where food may be sold or stored, cleanliness of premises, storage, cleanliness of food handlers, notification of infectious disease and powers of entry and inspection.
A food handler who becomes aware of suffering from or carrying typhoid, paratyphoid, cholera, tuberculosis or another salmonella infection, dysentery, infectious hepatitis or a staphylococcal infection likely to cause food poisoning must notify their employer, who must immediately tell the environmental health officer; a self-employed handler notifies the council directly, which then takes containment measures.
Authorised officials may enter and inspect premises, equipment and processes at all reasonable times and whenever business is in progress, and obstruction is prohibited.
The penalty schedule is uneven. It sets US$166,84 for selling contaminated food, US$83,42 each for improper food handling or preparation and for trading without a valid health inspection report, US$33,37 for food handlers without proper uniforms, US$20 for preparing, storing or selling food on premises prone to contamination, and US$10 for handling food without a medical certificate. But the entries for selling expired or unwholesome food, selling from unapproved premises, failing to provide clean sanitary conveniences, failing to notify the council of an infectious disease and obstructing an inspecting official are all printed as US$0,00 — as is food handler registration. The unusual cent-level figures suggest amounts converted from another currency.
Penalties are payable in local currency at the prevailing interbank rate and exclude VAT.
What changed
- Selling contaminated food carries US$166,84
- Improper food handling and trading without a valid health inspection report each carry US$83,42
- Food handlers without proper uniforms are fined US$33,37 and handling food without a medical certificate US$10
- Food handler registration, expired food, failure to report infectious disease and obstruction are printed as US$0,00
- Officials may enter and inspect at any time business is in progress
Who this affects
- Restaurants, takeaways and food retailers in Plumtree
- Food handlers and their employers
- Council environmental health officers
Plain-language summary — not legal advice. Always read the full instrument.