Bay Cuisine Production manager Christopher Mackie arrives at Napier District Court for sentencing after selling listeria-contaminated meat and omitting to disclose test results showing the meat was contaminated.

The widower of a woman who died in the listeria outbreak at Hawke's Bay Hospital in 2012 said the fines imposed on a meat company, its director and a staff member meant little.

In Napier District Court on Wednesday Bay Cuisine was fined $130,000, company director Garth Wise was fined $32,500 and production manager Christopher Mackie was fined $30,000.

The charges related to their supplying listeria-contaminated meat to Hawke's Bay Hospital and others, and for intentionally deceiving regulators by omitting test results that revealed the contamination.

The charges were not directly connected with the listeria deaths or infections.

The health board discovered cold ready-to-eat meats supplied by the company were contaminated in July 2012, after several listeria cases had been linked to the hospital kitchen.

Patricia Hutchinson, 68, and an 81-year-old woman died after contracting listeria. Two other people were infected.

Robin Hutchinson, who held his wife of 46 years as she passed away, said "the fines imposed mean little to me".

"Even now there has not been a single word or remorse. For those people to have contacted myself and the Napier victim's husband would have cost a tax deductible phone call. My feelings are they must jointly have a conscience of steel," he said.

Hutchinson remained angry at the health board for providing cold meats to immuno-compromised patients such as his wife when Health Ministry advice was that such people should avoid it.

A DHB spokeswoman said the pre-packaged meats provided by Bay Cuisine had been tested and had shown negative results for listeria.

The Health and Disability Commisisoner had investigated the matter and found no fault by the DHB, she said.

DHB chief executiveKevin Snee said the company should have faced more serious charges.

The fines imposed on Wednesday brought some closure to the effects of the 2012 outbreak, but "the district health board remains of the view that it would have preferred to see the company facing more severe charges that reflect the seriousness of those acts, and the toll those actions have taken on people's lives".

Outside court an MPI spokesman said the charges laid against the company were the most severe available under the Animal Products Act, and anything more serious, such as manslaughter, would need to be laid by police.

Hawke's Bay detective sergeant Mike Foster said the matter had been fully investigated by police and advice from the Crown had been that there was insufficient evidence to lay a criminal charge.

In his sentencing submissions Crown prosecutor Grant Burston said the offending was amongst the worst possible as it involved deliberate deception of a regulator during an investigation into a listeria outbreak and prevented the regulator taking immediate action.

"The fines should bite," Burston said.

Judge Bridget Mackintosh said the decision to deceive had been intentional and the offenders must have known the risk their offending posed to those people at greatest risk of contracting listeria.

Bay Cuisine did not wish to comment on the sentences, but after entering guilty pleas last month director Simon Wills said the company had not knowingly sold contaminated cooked meats.

He said the company ceased production of cooked sliced meats in July 2012 and implemented a number of procedural and management changes.