Seven closure orders served on food businesses in May
A Mullingar trader is among the food businesses served HSE closure orders in May.
The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) today reported that environmental health officers in the Health Service Executive (HSE) served seven Closure Orders on food businesses during the month of May for breaches of food safety legislation, pursuant to the FSAI Act, 1998 and the European Union (Official Controls in Relation to Food Legislation) Regulations, 2020.
Closure Orders were served under the FSAI Act, 1998 on:
• Mace (Closed area: Prefab food storage unit (external to the premises)) (retailer), Slane Road, Harmonstown, Navan, Meath
• Sheela Palace (restaurant/café), Liffey Valley Complex, Fonthill Road, Clondalkin, Dublin 22.
Closure Orders were served under the European Union (Official Controls in Relation to Food Legislation) Regulations, 2020 on:
• Hole in the Wall Pub (closed activities: The storage of food and food contact materials in all first floor storerooms, the preparation and service of food from the ground floor kitchen), Blackhorse Avenue, Cabra, Dublin 7
• A table serving food (retailer), Trading at Fairgreen Shopping Centre, Mullingar, Westmeath
• Shapla Indian Spice (restaurant/café), Hanover Court, Kennedy Avenue, Carlow
• Captain’s Catch (takeaway), Parnell Street, Limerick
• Jilly & Joe’s (closed activity: Cooling of cooked foods including meat, poultry, gravies/sauces and vegetables such as rice and potato.) (Restaurant/Café), Dove Hill Centre, Ballynoran Carrick-on-Suir, Tipperary.
Among the reasons for the Enforcement Orders in May are:
• evidence of rodent activity including a rat carcass removed from an area near the kitchen and rodent droppings on the floor and behind panelling
• accumulation of bagged mixed waste piled up to the side of the premises
• foods not being cooled in accordance with the critical cooling limits in the HACCP plan
• absence of basic cleaning as evidenced by the build-up of dirt and debris in hard to reach areas
• inadequate cleaning of equipment including a food mixer bowl left unclean
• hard to reach areas of the floor, particularly under equipment, were filthy with food debris
• staff not wearing personal protective equipment (PPE)
• no anti-bacterial soap for hand washing
• food preparation counters throughout the kitchen dirty and greasy to touch
• inappropriate storage of cooked chicken in a lidded frying pan on shelving underneath the cooker
• unsafe food handling practices including handling raw chicken and ready-to-eat foods without appropriate hand washing or changing gloves
• no food worker observed washing hands between handling raw and ready-to-eat foods
• animal hair found on a pallet storing food contact packaging.
Greg Dempsey, chief executive, FSAI, said: “The types of issues identified in a number of these Enforcement Orders are concerning and point to clear failures in basic food safety controls.
"We continue to see lapses in hygiene, cleaning and safe food handling practices, alongside evidence of pest activity in some food premises. These are fundamental requirements that every food business is legally obliged to meet. Food safety management systems are not optional – they must be properly implemented, maintained and monitored in practice.
"Where these basic standards are not met, there is a risk to public health and appropriate enforcement action will continue to be taken where necessary.”
Details of the food businesses served with Enforcement Orders are published on the FSAI’s website at www.fsai.ie.
Closure Orders and Improvement Orders will remain listed in the enforcement reports on the website for a period of three months from the date of when a premises is adjudged to have corrected its food safety issue, with Prohibition Orders being listed for a period of one month.