澳大利亚新南威尔士州绿党议员艾比盖尔·博伊德通过议会权力获取的秘密文件显示，该州食品供应链存在严重安全隐患。[1]文件揭露马肉被冒充牛羊肉出售、面包中发现金属屑、食品中检出鼠毛和针等多种污染问题。[1]博伊德表示："你可能吃的是绞碎的马肉，却以为是普通绞肉……对普通人来说这很令人震惊。"[1]
2022年至2026年间，包括养老院和医院在内的数百家企业因食品安全违规收到改善通知，其中超过100家企业因重复违规被发出多份通知。[1]改善通知的费用从330澳元增加到565澳元。[1]尽管违规企业众多，新南威尔士州食品管理局在七年内未曾撤销过任何企业的许可证。[1]该局直接监管14500家持证食品企业。[1]以提供餐饮服务的Cater Care公司为例，其年提供1000万份餐食，2023年至2026年间却收到9份改善通知。[1]
历史数据进一步凸显风险。[1]2018年被污染的哈密瓜爆发事件导致7人死亡和1例流产，2020年以来报告的400例李斯特菌病例中超三分之一发生在新南威尔士州。[1]
Abigail Boyd, a Greens member of New South Wales parliament, has obtained classified government documents exposing serious food safety failures across the state, including the sale of horse meat disguised as beef and lamb mince, metal fragments discovered in bread products, and rodent hair and needles found in food items.[1]
The leaked files reveal that between 2022 and 2026, hundreds of businesses—including aged care facilities and hospitals—received improvement notices for food safety violations.[1] However, despite this troubling pattern, the NSW Food Authority, which directly regulates 14,500 licensed food businesses, has not revoked any enterprise's license over a seven-year period.[1] The financial cost of improvement notices has also increased, rising from $330 to $565.[1]
The revelations highlight recurring violations among major food service providers. Cater Care, a company that supplies 10 million meals annually, received nine improvement notices between 2023 and 2026 alone.[1] Boyd characterized the findings as deeply troubling, stating: "You might be eating minced horse meat and think it's ordinary mince... it's shocking for ordinary people."[1] The discovery comes against a backdrop of previous food safety crises, including a 2018 contaminated cantaloupe outbreak that resulted in seven deaths and one miscarriage, and more than 400 reported listeriosis cases since 2020, with over a third occurring in New South Wales.[1]