Active rodent infestations, cockroaches, uncovered bins full of food waste and a lack of basic hygiene were among the reasons restaurants and food retailers were served with closure orders by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) last month.
Freshly Chopped & Neat Pizza in Fairview, Dublin, was served with a closure order after a food safety inspector found “an active rodent infestation in the kitchen area where high risk ready to eat open foods are prepared”.
The report also noted that the “premises was not maintained in a clean condition” and pointed to fresh rodent droppings in multiple areas of the kitchen.
An active rodent infestation was also identified in the Jazz Chinese Restaurant in the Coolock Village Shopping Centre. The premises was not maintained in a clean condition and alongside the rodent droppings there was a large accumulation of grease, food detritus and dirt, the inspector’s report said.
“The kitchen was dirty/not clean to the extent that food produced in these conditions is likely to be contaminated with dirt containing harmful pathogens such as listeria,” it warned.
The Letterkenny Kebab and Pizza on Port Road was found to have “dirty and clean food contact equipment on the draining board of the wash up sink” while “raw meat was stored above ready to eat taco sauce” with “numerous plastic bags of frozen unlabelled raw meat and poultry were found stored in a haphazard manner in the chest freezer”.
An inspection of Al Huda Grocery in Summerhill, Dublin1, uncovered dead cockroaches on traps laid in the shop floor area as well as “substantial fly activity noted in and around the deli area”.
Closure Orders were also served on the Baalbec takeaway on Sarsfield Street, Kilmallock, Limerick; Cafe India, Harbour Street, Tullamore; Divine Catering Farnamurry Close, Ballygraigue Road, Nenagh; and the Akanchawa Honey Pot in the Coolmine Industrial Estate, Blanchardstown.
The chief executive of the FSAI, Dr Pamela Byrne, said there is a legal responsibility on food businesses to act responsibly and ensure the food they provide to their customers is safe to eat.
She noted that most food businesses follow high food safety standards and comply with food law but inspectors continue to encounter cases where consumers’ health is put at risk “through a failure to comply with food safety and basic hygiene requirements”.
She said “non-compliances are avoidable” and that the FSAI has “zero tolerance for any food business that does not comply with its legal requirements”.
“Food businesses have a legal requirement to ensure the safe supply of food, and it is unacceptable that basic procedures like handwashing, cleaning, robust pest control measures and storing food correctly at the appropriate temperature are not being properly followed. Food businesses must do better.”
