An importer has been fined $25,000 for failing to test 2241 kg Parma ham imported from Italy in 2011.

Paqualino Licastro, owner of Perth import company Topas Pty Ltd, was fined $3000 while the company was fined $22,000.

After breaching its import permit, the company then failed to act on a directive from the Department of Agriculture to move the ham to a cold-store facility. The department ordered that the ham be held pending sampling and testing for Staphylococcus, Listeria, E. coli and Salmonella before it could be sold or distributed.

Had the imported ham introduced foot-and-mouth disease into Australia, it could potentially cost more than $50 billion over 10 years, the department estimates.