THE FOOD SAFETY Authority of Ireland (FSAI) issued nine enforcement orders to food businesses during May, including six closure orders.

Four of the closure orders were issued to food venues in Dublin and two to venues in Cork.

Two closure orders and one prohibition order were given under Ireland’s FSAI Act 1998. Four closure notices two prohibition notices were issued under the European Union (Official Controls in Relation to Food Legislation) Regulations 2020.

Closure orders may be lifted when a food business makes improvements to the satisfaction of inspectors.

Food businesses the FSAI found to be in violation of Irish law were:

• Istanbul Bite (Closed area: boiler room and potato peeling room) (take away), Upper Cork Hill, Youghal, Cork (Closure order)
• Applegreen Cobh (fuel pumps external to the shops are not subject to this Closure Order), Tiknock, Cobh, Cork (Closure order)
• The Village Grocer, Upper Main Street, Ballyporeen, Tipperary (Prohibition order)

Those closed for breaching European regulations were:

• Johnson Best Food African Take Away, 86 Summerhill, Summerhill, Dublin 1 (Closure order)
• Dublin Pizza Company (take away), 32 Aungier Street & 35 Aungier Street, Dublin 2 (Closure order)
• Mizzonis Pizza (take away), 15 Prospect Road, Glasnevin, Dublin 9 (Closure order)
• D1 Cafe and Bakery, 52 Dorset Street Lower, Dublin 1 (Closure order)
• Fresh Oriental Store Limited, 30-32 Abbey Street Upper, Dublin 1 (Prohibition order)
• Johnson Best Food African Take Away, 86 Summerhill, Dublin 1 (Prohibition order)

The FSAI noted the following details in the relevant premises.

Istanbul Bite was “not kept clean and maintained in goood repair and condition” and the construction of specific areas did not permit good food hygiene practices. Rodent droppings were found in the boiler room adjacent to the potato peeling room.

In Applegreen Cobh, dead rodents were found in the store room and under the milk fridge on the shop floor and rodent droppings were found in the store room, in the staff canteen and under shelves on the shop floor.

The prohibition order served on the Village Grocer came after the discovery of multiple products beyond their use by date, including a club sandwich, fresh cream, yoghurt, and cheese.

The FSAI found issues at Johnson Best Food African Take Away related to keeping or defrosting products at temperatures or in ways that could create a health risk, such as a raw fish found defrosting at room temperature in the kitchen area “stored in a dirty container on the floor”. There was also no hand wash basin in the kitchen or food preparation area.

Dublin Pizza Company had damaged floor tiles that were “gathering dirt”, “accumulations of old food debris, dirt, cobwebs and dead insects noted on floors beneath and behind equipment and at wall/floor junctions throughout the preparation room and shop” and unhygienic staff toilets. There was no soap at the hand wash sink in the preparation room and equipment was being stored in the hand wash sink at the time of the inspection. 

At Mizzonis Pizza, there was evidence of a “lack of adequate and regular cleaning”, a build up of waste stored in a room next to the toilets, reusable cloths in a dirty condition, and evidence that articles, fittings and equipment coming into contact with food were not effectively cleaned and disinfected. Food safety controls were also not being properly implemented or monitored and there was no hot water, soap or paper towels available at the wash hand basin in the staff toilet.

The FSAI found at D1 Cafe and Bakery that there was only one sink on the premises, which was being used to wash dirty equipment in addition to use for food preparation. There were problems with the temperatures that food was being stored at and instances of foods being stored beyond their use by dates, such as raw beef burgers, and cheese found dried out and mouldy. Additionally: “There was one staff member working, this person was working alone and unsupervised. This staff member advised that they were new and only started in the job in the last three days. There was no record to confirm training in food safety matters, nor did this staff member display knowledge of food safety matters.”

Fresh Oriental received a prohibition order after an inspection found that in relation to poultry products carrying the “Toofy Duck” brand, “it was not possible to establish the traceability of this food at any stage of production, processing or distribution as the packaging did not contain any address details of a manufacturing or distributing food business operator” and it was “not possible to establish that the food has been produced safely or in accordance with at food law at each stage of production, processing and distribution”.

The prohibition order for Johnson Best Food African Take Away in May identified a number of food items stored with no labelling or traceability information, including a “black refuse bag with frozen fish heads” and other types of meat and fish.