Darwin’s Glenti Festival will be held this weekend with the Kalymnian Brotherhood stating it intends to defy a Health Department order to destroy two tonnes of octopus which it deemed “unsuitable for consumption”, saying the claims were the result of “sabotage” against them by an unknown third party, and that there is nothing wrong with its stock of eight-armed marine mollusks.

It remains unclear what the organisation intends to do with the octopus.

However, in a statement on its Facebook page on Friday afternoon, the Kalymnian Brotherhood said while there would be octopus for sale this weekend at Glenti, but it would not be sold by them because of a government order to destroy their octopus, despite the group saying their preparations were completed under full supervision and in accordance with their safe food handling certificate.

President Themis Magoulias, who said she is an executive chef with knowledge of food handling requirements, told the NT Independent the community group spent $45,000 buying two tonnes of octopus, and was expecting to sell it for about $90,000 to help finance the organisation for the year, but they would instead now not be selling any food.

The NT News cited an un-named NT Health spokesperson stating that a thorough NT Health investigation had deemed a quantity of octopus being prepared for the Glenti Festival as “unsuitable for consumption”.

“The investigation found that had breached a number of clauses in the Food Standards code,” the statement said.

“NT Health takes food and public safety very seriously and this action will have a very minor impact on what is a highly anticipated community event.”

Ms Magoulias said she had been interstate receiving health treatment and the government health official had interacted with a committee member who did not have a good grasp of English, adding she pleaded for the Health Department to reconsider.

“There is something fishy going on,” Ms Magoulias said.

“We are all devastated. We cannot sleep. Our treasurer and I are crying about it. And we are figuring out how we are going to pay back the money for the octopus.

“This is really bad. This is really, really bad and we are asking the department to come and retest.

“There is no way, no way, that what they are saying is true. It is rubbish.

“We are over it. We are getting stepped on. We are all volunteers. It is not fair what is going on.

“They are trying to hide something that we don’t know about it. It is sabotage. We get told this two days before Glenti?

“And it just makes me think there was something in-house [in the larger Greek community that caused the violation].”

Ms Magoulias said it would be only the second time the Kalymnian Brotherhood would not be selling food at Glenti since it began 35 years ago. She added the octopus was being prepared in two cement mixers they had recently purchased at Bunnings, with one having been used at the recent Nightcliff Seabreeze Festival.

She said the government had ordered them to destroy the octopus, something she said they refuse to do.

“There is nothing wrong with it. Until they prove that it is contaminated we are not going to get rid of it,” Ms Magoulias said.

“I just need the truth to come out. I have sick of government officials lying to cover their own crap.

“We use the money to pay our bills, to pay for power, for maintenance and. We need the money to pay off our debts.”

The controversy aside, Greek Orthodox Community of the NT president Michael Koulianos said in a statement on Wednesday that Glenti went beyond being a festival, which focuses on a vibrant celebration of community, heritage, and the rich multicultural essence of the Northern Territory.

“We are proud to bring people of all backgrounds together for a joyful day of Greek food, dance and music right on the Esplanade,” Mr Koulianos said.

“With the support of the NT Government and local businesses, this year’s Glenti promises to be the most exciting yet.”

Mr Koulianos said Glenti will again have dancing and other cultural performances including a special appearance by the Glenti All-Star Band, which will be flying in exclusively for the event.

There will also be a plate-breaking challenge, a pita-eating contest, along with drawing competitions, amusement rides and entertainment, including Darwin’s first-ever live performance of The Smurfs, he said.

There will also be massive amounts of traditional Greek food with Mr Koulianos stating more than 3.5 tonnes of souvla, an now unknown amount of octopus, 800 kg of calamari, 600kg of dolmades, and around 12,000 souvlaki will be sold.

Glenti runs from 11am to 10pm on Saturday and Sunday in Bicentennial Park on The Esplanade. Admission is free.

For more information, visit the Darwin GleNTi Facebook page.