Nine businesses shut over public health fears

Food safety chiefs shut down nine businesses last month over public health fears.

Alan Reilly, the chief executive of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI), warned that food businesses need to be vigilant in relation to food safety, ensure full compliance with food regulations, and demand high standards from their suppliers.

“This is another high monthly total of enforcement orders, with seven prohibition orders served last month, which is a new and worrying record,” he said.

“These prohibition orders force food businesses to withdraw unsafe or illegal food from the market.

“We warn food businesses to ensure that the food they serve and sell is safe to eat, and obtained from reputable suppliers.

“It is vital that all batches of food are fully traceable and labelled correctly, and that food businesses know it has been produced and stored safely and hygienically. The integrity of the food supply chain relies on every food business playing its part.”

Five restaurants, a take away, a distributor, and the food areas of a pub andhotel were closed for one or more days during the month until health and safety standards were met. They were the Blueberry Restaurant, Moyvalley, Co Kildare; The Larder (restaurant), Parliament St, Dublin 2; Red Parrot (pub), Lower Dorset St, Dublin 1; and the New Millennium Chinese Restaurant, South King St, Dublin 2.

A further five businesses shut down under European food regulations were: Creedon’s Hotel (main kitchen and rear-yard store room) in Macroom, Co Cork; Kebab Bites (take away), Redmond Square, Wexford; Sur La Mer (restaurant), Rosslare Strand, Wexford; Great Stuff Caterers (storage shed and garage of distributors/under appeal), Cork Rd, Midleton, Cork; Pizza Palace (restaurant), Temple House, Templeshannon, Enniscorthy, Wexford.

The FSAI said closure orders are served where it is deemed that there is or there is likely to be a grave and immediate danger to public health at or in the premises, or where an improvement order is not complied with.

Elsewhere the seven prohibition orders — issued if the handling, processing, disposal, manufacturing, storage, distribution or selling food involve or are likely to involve a serious risk to public health from a particular product, class, batch or item of food — were served by environmental health officers and sea fisheries protection officers last month.

They included North West Shellfish Ltd (aquaculture production site), UpperCarrick, Carrigare, Letterkenny, Donegal; New Millennium Chinese Restaurant, South King St, Dublin 2; Red Parrot (public house), Lower Dorset St, Dublin 1; Pizza Max (take- away), Annamoe Terrace, Dublin 7; Meadow Grove Stores (cash and carry), Ringmahon Rd, Blackrock, Cork; Bryan Allen, Food Stall operating at Semple Stadium, Thurles, Tipperary; and Tom McCall (cash and carry), Crosslow, Tullow, Carlow.

Elsewhere a successful prosecution was brought against John Johnson, Bimdoc Cash & Carry, Business Centre, Jamestown Business Park, Jamestown Rd, Finglas, Dublin 11.