{"id":843945,"date":"2026-06-04T14:02:25","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T14:02:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/843945\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T14:02:25","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T14:02:25","slug":"wa-spud-king-tony-galatis-business-fined-20k-for-unlicensed-chip-factory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/843945\/","title":{"rendered":"WA ‘spud king’ Tony Galati’s business fined $20k for unlicensed chip factory"},"content":{"rendered":"

West Australian “Spud King” Tony Galati’s group of businesses has been fined for illegally setting up a chip factory in the state’s South West without official approval.<\/p>\n

The Galati Group pleaded guilty to breaching the Environmental Protection Act in 2023 and 2024 by setting up a chip-making factory for Spuddies brand potato chips in Myalup, 140km south of Perth, without the required license.<\/p>\n

The company also admitted to dumping non-oily chip-making waste on the site without a license.<\/p>\n

In Bunbury Magistrates Court today, Magistrate Stephen Butcher sentenced ABV Food Processing, owned by the Galati Group, to a fine of $20,000.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Spuddies Chips were sold at Spudshed stores across the state. (ABC South West WA: Neve Brissenden)<\/p>\n

“There had been multiple notifications sent to the company, it was a live issue, they were on notice of it,” he said.<\/p>\n

“They were assisted by professionals.<\/p>\n

“It is a sophisticated company with not insignificant scale of operations.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

‘Grand opening’ tipped off officials<\/p>\n

In April 2024, the Galati Group created a home brand of chips called Spuddies, which were distributed and sold at Spudshed stores across the state.<\/p>\n

In sentencing submissions, the court heard an officer from WA’s Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (DWER) had been notified of the factory’s imminent grand opening for February 2024.<\/p>\n

A day later, a DWER official emailed the Galati Group to advise “amongst other things that it would be an offence to commence any works”, the court heard.<\/p>\n

It is unclear whether this correspondence was responded to.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Galati Group opened the factory in 2024 without the required approvals. (ABC South West WA: Neve Brissenden)<\/p>\n

Despite having no works approval from the department, the Galati Group installed the chip processing facility between November 2023 and April 2024, the court heard.<\/p>\n

Between those dates, the company installed an industrial peeler, blancher, fryer, converter belt, and weight heads for a “precise partitioning and bagging system”.<\/p>\n

Belated application after chip production begins<\/p>\n

In June 2024, a DWER officer emailed Galati Group chief executive Frankie Galati, advising she would like to read the meters at the Myalup property.<\/p>\n

Mr Galati responded the next day, advising that chip production at the facility had already begun.<\/p>\n

The department responded, reminding the company that it needed a works approval and license, but received no response.<\/p>\n

In November, the department received an application for the works, but it was withdrawn in May, a year after the facility had begun producing chips.<\/p>\n

Prosecutor Rosanna Panetta argued a fine was not sufficient, arguing the Galati Group had knowingly breached the law and had not cooperated with DWER.<\/p>\n

“The language is clear that one should not operate a facility until a license to operate has been granted,” Ms Panetta told the court.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Spudshed in Bunbury. (ABC South West WA: Neve Brissenden)<\/p>\n

But Galati Group lawyer Paul McQueen argued that the company could not be held responsible if contractors were slow at responding or did not respond at all.<\/p>\n

Magistrate Butcher disagreed, arguing the business was sophisticated and should be held to a high standard due to its scale.<\/p>\n

“(The company) is assisted by professionals, qualified planners and consultants,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The number of notifications and notices suggest that making the assumptions that it did in relation to works approval not being required … there is really no basis for that misunderstanding.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Magistrate Butcher said the offending was on the low-to-mid range, while the dumping of the waste was on the lower range, as no environmental damage was done.<\/p>\n

A works application for the factory has since been lodged.<\/p>\n

A high-profile farmer-turned-businessman, Mr Galati played a central role in the deregulation<\/a> of the WA potato industry.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He was previously fined $40,000<\/a> for contempt of court during clashes with the state’s now defunct Potato Marketing Corporation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"West Australian “Spud King” Tony Galati’s group of businesses has been fined for illegally setting up a chip…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":843946,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[4740,345293,345290,345289,50,83125,244830,345294,345292,345288,345291,8632],"class_list":["post-843945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-australia","tag-bunbury-chips","tag-chip-factory","tag-galati-group","tag-news","tag-potato-chips","tag-south-west-news","tag-spuddies","tag-spudshed","tag-tony-galati","tag-tony-galati-chips","tag-wa-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116692213137240031","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=843945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843945\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/843946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=843945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=843945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=843945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}