THE FOOD SAFETY Authority of Ireland (FSAI) ordered 65 food businesses to close during 2022, including six new orders in December.
A total of 77 enforcement orders, including 65 closures and 12 prohibitions, were issued in 2022 – a 31% increase compared to 2021, when 59 orders were served.
In December, four closures were served under the European Union (Official Controls in Relation to Food Legislation) Regulations 2020 on:
The closure order for The Cosy Corner, which was served on 1 December and lifted on 5 December, identified unclean areas, including the sandwich production area and staff toilets.
It found that food workers were not wearing protective clothing while producing sandwiches, baguettes and wraps, that sandwiches were being stored at room temperature due to inadequate refrigeration storage, and temperature monitoring of packaged chicken baguettes and wraps failed to store foods and temperatures that would prevent the growth of pathogenic bacteria.
On 2 December an order was served against Casey’s Pub due to a small kitchen with inadequate working space that did not allow good food hygiene practices, had no windows or ventilation, and a broken ceiling board with loose exposed plasterboard over open food and a chopping board.
Food was being stored in storage rooms that also held non-food items, including an open bucket of ash from a fireplace, while in a keg store with cold room there were two hot oil fryers and a tureen of hot soup found balanced on a beer keg. The keg room was also used to store waste and its open metal doors were not pest-proofed.
There was one sink in the kitchen for all food-related and cleaning activities; “facilities for washing food were not separate from the hand-washing facility”.
In Dublin, the Hole in the Wall was found to have food contact surfaces in the kitchen, side kitchens and washing up area in “extremely dirty condition”, including significant black mould growth on the sealant at the bank of the double sinks and walls in the washing up room, black dirt accumulating on the surfaces of cooking equipment, and old food encrusted on containers storing food in the refrigerated display unit.
The pub was in a “poor standard of repair” in many areas at the time of inspection, including defective flooring on an upper floor comprising staff toilets and a packaging store room, missing ceiling panels in the washing-up area and adjacent hall that exposed food containers stored beneath to dust, dirt and debris, and a wooden pipe cover that was badly chipping and broken in the raw meat preparation area.
No food safety monitoring records were completed or available to inspect since 24 November and some containers of food stored in the walk-in chill room were not labelled with the date of defrosting or cooking.
The closure order on the pub was served on 8 December and listed on 9 December.
Finally, Ballaghaderreen Grocery Store was served a closure order on 14 December that was lifted on 16 December.
The inspection found a hand wash basin was not provided in the vicinity of the butchery for food workers after handling raw meat and that a high degree of personal cleanliness was not seen among staff.
The freezer room, where frozen meat was “haphazardly” stored, had been switched off and “malodours” were coming from the room. In a wash up sink, a packet of frozen meat was left to defrost and a dirty stainless steel bowl and tray were in the same sink.
Sizeable gaps were found at the bottom and side of the back door “allowing for potential ingress of pests into the food premises”. Outside, an opened bin of uncovered animal meat waste were stored without properly containers, labelling, or arrangements for prompt disposal.
General maintenance throughout was “very poor” and “work surfaces were not maintained in clean, hygienic condition”, with “woollen gloves [and] non-food items such as phone chargers and dirty tea towels” left on worktops.
The two other closure orders were served under the FSAI Act 1998 on:
The closure order for RBK Poultry served on 23 December said the establishment was operating without being properly registered for the storage and processing of meat and poultry and that it was storing meat considered “unfit for human consumption due to putrefaction, foreign body contamination and poor storage conditions”.
And the closure order for the African Shop/Costello Stores served on 29 December and lifted on 6 January described finding “large accumulations of rodent droppings” and that “bags of ground rice and maize were noted to be damaged which was similar to pest gnawing”.
The FSAI also released the details of a closure order in November that had been subject to an appeal which was subsequently withdrawn. The order was served on Brambles Deli Café in Wells House and Gardens, Gorey, Co Wexford.
Additionally, eight prohibition orders, subject to a withdrawn appeal, were served in July 2022 over placing unauthorised CBD products on the market on Holland and Barret, Cedar Drive, Dublin Airport Logistics Park, Saint Margaret’s Road, Co Dublin.
Details of the food businesses served with Enforcement Orders are published on the FSAI’s website.
The FSAI said that the increase in enforcement orders last year “follows almost a full year of normal food business operations following the lifting of remaining COVID-19 restrictions, in early 2022″.
“The FSAI continues to urge all food businesses to adhere to food safety legislation, appropriately train staff to produce, serve and sell food that is safe to eat and ensure premises are adequately pest proofed,” it said.
FSAI Chief Executive Dr Pamela Byrne said that “through the hard work of our partner agencies and food inspectors in 2022, food businesses that disregarded the law and put consumer health at risk were stopped”.
“However, this should not be happening. Enforcement Orders are served on food businesses only when a risk to consumer health has been identified or where there are a number of ongoing breaches of food legislation,” Dr Byrne said.
“Food businesses should not be falling short on their legal requirements. They should adhere to food safety regulations at all times. It is disappointing that month after month, food inspectors find similar, basic and fundamental breaches of food law.”
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