A kitchen hand has been awarded more than $65,000 after contracting food poisoning from a Gungahlin cafe, which stored meat at unsafe temperatures.
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The worker took Central Cafe to the ACT Supreme Court, claiming negligence and seeking more than $560,000 in damages.
Last month, Justice Belinda Baker awarded the former staff member more than $65,573.
In 2017, multiple customers contracted salmonella after eating at the cafe which was owned by Yaman Kasirga.
One customer was hospitalised and had "a large portion of her stomach removed" as a result. She described the illness as causing "life long scars".
The kitchen hand, a girl who was 15 at the time, was hospitalised with the illness and claimed she was "completely debilitated for a number of months".
She also claimed to suffer from long term psychological and physical effects, impacting her schooling and reducing her ability to work.
The court found she became sick after handling contaminated food.
Justice Baker said the girl was not as ill as she claimed, and the damages awarded would be "substantially less" than sought.
When ACT Health inspected the cafe they discovered numerous breaches and the business was immediately closed.
A sample of frozen, cooked chicken was found to contain salmonella, and was kept at 9.5 degrees celsius.
Most refrigerated items were stored well above safe temperatures, with some readings of up to 14 degrees celsius.
The inspector found a thermometer still in its packaging that had never been used.
Mr Kasirga was later convicted of selling unsafe food and failing to comply with food standards by the ACT Magistrates Court and fined $4500.
Photographs, tendered to the Supreme Court in the latest matter, "amply demonstrated that cleanliness at the cafe was severely lacking" in 2017, Justice Baker stated.
The judge found staff were not provided with soap to wash their hands, and refrigeration was "inadequate".
However, the judge did not accept the girl's evidence that she was bed ridden for three months after contracting salmonella, stating police records showed the 15-year-old had been caught shoplifting, trespassing and caused domestic disturbances during this time.
A report from a psychologist found the girl has a mindset which is "comfortable with conspiracy theories and fantastical imaginings of events where something unknown and scary is causal of many happenings in the world".
Despite this, Justice Baker found the "illness [the girl] suffered as a result of the defendant's negligence was extremely unpleasant".
It was also established the kitchen hand developed a food phobia as a result of contracting salmonella poisoning.
This phobia has caused the girl to be underweight and she has "some continuing issues with fatigue and dizziness".
The cafe was also ordered to pay the girl's legal costs.
- Support is available for those who may be distressed. Phone Lifeline 13 11 14; Kids Helpline 1800 551 800; beyondblue 1300 224 636.
