THE FOOD SAFETY Authority of Ireland (FSAI) has announced that seven food closure orders were served on food businesses during the month of September for breaches of food safety legislation.

Two restaurants in Dublin were closed temporarily under the FSAI Act, 1998.

Bow Lane Restaurant, 17 Aungier Street, Dublin 2 was found to have rodent droppings in the staff toilets and kitchen, as well as holes and gaps in several walls and ceilings.

Nearby, Rustic Stone, 17 South Great George’s Street, Dublin 2 was served a closure order because of rodent droppings found behind “a loose wooden covering over a gap in the cavity wall” near cooking appliances.

A representative of Bow Lane Restaurant told The Journal:

“17/ 18 Aungier Street, where Bow Lane is located, are listed buildings and as such are very very old. With this age comes constant repair and maintenance.”

“We suffered water damage recently and as a result found some old drainage pipes which needed upgrading. These works have now been carried out and we are as always fully compliant with the HSE.”

 A representative for Rustic Stone said:

“The HSE carried out an inspection on the premises a number of weeks ago. There was an issue in a cavity wall behind the kitchen, connected to exchequer street.”

“We were closed for a few hours on the Friday morning and were open for dinner the same day, after some minor repairs to an external wall. We appreciate the work the HSE do but believe the closure order in this instance was not warranted and unsubstantiated, we have contested the decision.

“Our team works tirelessly and the restaurant spends a lot of money to ensure or premises are in pristine condition and fully HSE compliant, which we are fully confident it is.”

The other premises were in breach of European Union (Official Controls in Relation to Food Legislation) Regulations, 2020.

An unnamed food business operated by Swift Fine Foods at Cooltrimegish Business Park, Castleblayney, Co Monaghan was noted as having “evidence of interference to foodstuffs (such as sheets of lasagne) by rodents,” dead mice and flies, mouse faeces throughout the premises and on food products.

Swift Fine Foods has said that the premises was a storage building unrelated to their main supply chain.

Lee Kee Chinese Restaurant, 100a Parnell Street, Dublin 1, was reported by an inspector as having “food debris and grease embedded on equipment and surfaces including the floor and walls,” and no cold water supply provided throughout the premises.

Raw egg in the refrigerator was stored at “+9.1 degrees Celsius and fried rice at ambient temperature +39.1 degrees Celsius,” which were deemed to be “inadequate temperature control measures for high-risk foods”.

King Pizza at Knocknagree, Co Cork had several issues listed for its closure including “a very large fly infestation” with “flies were observed crawling on food, food surfaces and food related equipment.”

Kebab meat was held on a spit that was not operational and the temperature of the kebab meat was recorded at 15C.

The report also noted that clothing worn by staff was dirty and hair coverings were not worn.

There was no hot water, soap or a suitable means of hand drying available in the staff toilet.

Ocean Palace at Unit 8A Blackcastle Shopping Centre, Navan, Co Meath was closed temporarily after cooked meat was being stored at temperatures deemed to be unsafe.

“No staff member was observed washing their hands during the course of this inspection,” the report noted.

“Raw chicken was prepared in the vegetable preparation area. Staff members were then observed slicing cooked pork in the same area as the raw chicken.

“The food premises was excessively dirty with a prolonged build-up of dirt, grease and food debris.”

A Homesavers retail outlet in Ballysimon, Limerick was ordered not to store, display or sell any foodstuffs on the entire premises for having mouse droppings under shelving.

Commenting on the Closure Orders served in September, Dr Pamela Byrne, Chief Executive, FSAI, told RTÉ’s News at One that businesses are only closed if they pose “a grave and immediate danger to public health.”

“It is a legal requirement for all food businesses to have a robust food safety management system in place that also ensures a high level of pest control. However, time after time, environmental health officers are finding incidents of rodent infestations and filthy premises highlighting a disregard for basic food safety and hygiene.”

“All food businesses have a legal obligation to ensure that the food they are processing, serving or selling is safe to eat at all times. Consumers have a right to safe food and we would urge anyone who is concerned or suspect there is unusual activity being demonstrated by a food business, to contact us via our online complaint form and we will investigate.”