Albany French Hot Bread Shop has temporarily closed in the wake of being fined more than $60,000 for severe health violations, including having rodent droppings and juice from raw meat dripping on bread.
The popular Vietnamese bakery located on Albany Highway in the Albany Plaza shopping centre was closed at the weekend, with a sign on the door saying this was due to renovations.
Albany French Hot Bread Shop Pty Ltd and its two director operators, Tan Minh Le and Hoang Thanh Nyguen, were sentenced in Albany Magistrates Court on Wednesday.
City of Albany prosecutor Tim Beckett described the case as one of the “worst (he had) seen in relation to cleanliness”.
He told the court that the charges arose from two inspections on January 16 and 29 this year, but followed “years” of compliance issues, warnings and improvement notices.
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During the first inspection, a city officer found rubbish and unwashed food containers strewn about the food preparation areas and a “strong odour” of mould wafting from the premises.
Inside the cool room were mould-covered cardboard boxes, shelves covered with a build-up of dirt, and a container of raw meat dripping juice onto fresh bread.
The walls, floor, shelves, benches and appliances all had a build-up of grease and dirt, and rodents had defecated on uncovered bread rolls.
Tea towels and other food-handling items were black with dirt, while the seals of fridges were covered with mould and the bottom of the oven coated in baked-on food.
Rotten food products were stored next to fresh items and raw meat was being defrosted in the sink with carrots and cabbages.
Sausage rolls and pies were left uncovered on the floor with other bags of ready-to-eat food — none labelled with dates indicating their expiry or production dates.
Fresh food was stored next to personal items such as reading glasses, money and a “faecal specimen collection jar”.
Officers who completed the subsequent inspection on January 29 noted that while “significant cleaning” had been undertaken since January 16, the premises remained in an “unsatisfactory state”.
During this second inspection, officers witnessed food handlers remove mouldy and rotten food from the cool room before serving ready-to-eat food to customers without washing their hands.
The food business appeared to lack basic skills and knowledge that is required for safety purposes, such as handwashing, which is critical when operating a food business.
“The food business appeared to lack basic skills and knowledge that is required for safety purposes, such as handwashing, which is critical when operating a food business,” Mr Beckett said.
“We do a lot of prosecutions under the Food Act, and we would say that the photographs, in particular from January 16, 2026, were some of the worst we would see in relation to the cleanliness of the premises.
“The presence of rodent faeces and rodent activity, the storage of personal items and faecal collection jar, and just the overall standard of cleanliness is extremely poor and is at the higher end or upper end of the scale, we would say, for offences of that type.”
He said the accused’s “ongoing failure to comply with the requirements of the code” had forced the city to prosecute.
Le, Nguyen and the company were each charged with eight identical counts of failing to comply with a requirement of the food standards code while conducting a business.
Each had one charge dismissed by the prosecution, leaving seven active matters for sentencing.
The charges detailed a failure to maintain cleanliness of the premises and its fixtures, fittings and equipment, failure to secure store food in a way that would prevent contamination, failure to keep the premises in a good state of repair, failure to take measures to prevent or eradicate pests, failure to appoint a food safety supervisor and failure of food handlers to wash their hands.
Le, aged 60, pleaded guilty to all charges on April 1, while 57-year-old Nguyen and the company were convicted under section 55 on the same day.
Magistrate Rosemarie Myers said that while a further inspection in May revealed improvements, such as the implementation of a pest control treatment and Le’s commencement of a food handler certificate, the bakery was still significantly dirty and mouldy.
She also noted the city had been issuing warnings regarding the bakery’s cleanliness since 2023.
“The potential contamination as a result of the mould, the cross-contamination of food, and lack of handwashing causes a potential significant risk of illness to members of the public,” she said.
“The persistent failure to appoint a food safety supervisor increases the risk that the business will fall back into poor hygiene standards.
“The photographs show what has to be said to be a systemic breakdown in the compliance of what the community would consider to be appropriate standards of hygiene.”
She handed both Le and Nguyen global fines of $7000 and ordered them to pay court costs of $600.
The company was fined $43,750 with court costs of $1800.
Le and Nguyen faced maximum penalties of $350,000 while the company faced a maximum $1.75 million fine.
The lawyer acting on behalf of all defendants said all parties were remorseful for their actions and apologised for putting the community at risk.
On Sunday a handwritten sign on the storefront said that the business was temporarily closed for renovations, and it remained on the window on Monday morning.
The sign is posted alongside multiple awards from the Baking Association of Australia for their 2020 and 2022 placings in the Australia’s Best Pie competition.
