The owner of Lambs on Lygon St in Melbourne has been fined for multiple breaches of the food act, including the presence of dead mice, cockroaches and rat droppings.
Stephen Yannoulidis appeared before the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Monday, where it was said he kept serving customers despite being ordered to close.
According to the Herald Sun, health inspectors swarmed the popular Greek venue after Melbourne Council received several complaints mice and cockroaches were “observed” at the restaurant.
Inspectors visited multiple times between August 2022 and March last year, uncovering the health breaches.
In addition to the “live pest activity”, they also discovered food and grime build up on a rotisserie spit holder and raw meat in contact with packaged plastic water bottles.
On March 10, 2023, the council ordered the souvlaki joint close down to address the issues, however, Yannoulidis kept his business open and serving customers for a week.
He also did not display the notice where customers could easily see.
Yannoulidis’ defence said he “took his eye off the ball” due to personal reasons, the COVID pandemic and his lack of staff.
The court heard that he did try to deal with the pest issues, just not enough.
“It’s not a perfect world, there are always pests and it’s all about taking the proper steps to try and mitigate and minimise the risks,” the defence said.
“He didn’t sit on his hands, he dealt with it (pest eradication) … although he was engaging in pest control clearly he didn’t engage them sufficiently, not enough was being done …”
Yannoulidis, who has run Lambs on Lygon from the same location since 1982, will keep it open for business, the court was told.
Magistrate Michael Gurvich said the breaches were “revolting” but now understands they have been rectified.
Yannoulidis and Lambs on Lygon St both avoided a conviction but were fined $25,000 each and ordered to pay $7727.50 in court costs.
