Prominent Victorian dairy company Bulla has been fined after hundreds of litres of cream spilt into a drain, causing fish to gasp at the surface.
The company alerted Environment Protection Authority Victoria to the spill in February with EPA officers discovering the cream had mixed with tens of thousands of litres of stormwater.
The Armstrong Street drain ran into Lake Colac, though the contaminated material didn't reach the lake's water.
"However EPA officers did observe several small fish gasping at the surface of the wastewater in the stormwater drain leading toward the lake," EPA South West Manager Carolyn Francis said in a statement.
The company was fined $7773, but the EPA acknowledged Bulla alerted them to the spill and promptly cleaned up it up, averting significant environmental impact.
Bulla has been contacted for comment.
