Food inspector found dead rodent in Cork supermarket 

An inspector reported finding rodent droppings at "wall-to-floor junctions in the kitchen and storage room connected to the kitchen" at one Cork food business. File picture: Kirsty Wigglesworth/PA

Two Cork food businesses and a Kerry retailer were among 10 to be hit with enforcement or closure orders by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) in February.

The group, who are responsible for enforcing food hygiene standards and quality control in Ireland, conduct regular inspections on businesses at random.

Cork Oriental Supermarket, with an address on Dalton's Avenue, was served an immediate closure order on February 10 after an inspection.

The inspector reported finding rodent droppings at "wall-to-floor junctions in the kitchen and storage room connected to the kitchen".

Rodent droppings were also found on food containers in the kitchen and connecting rooms, while a dead rodent was located in a room connected to the kitchen. An immediate closure order was served for the kitchen and storage area due to a "grave and immediate danger to the public's health,"

"The conditions can lead to a serious risk of food being contaminated with pathogenic bacteria likely to render food unfit for human consumption."

Separately, a prohibition order was served on Fish Seafood Deli Ltd, Unit 6/7, Carbery, Enterprise Park, Skibbereen.

The following products were found by an inspector and prohibited from being sold on the premises.

• Out of date finished products from the Fresh Seafoods Deli - 29 boxes.
• Unrecorded fish, Dory and Turbot, lemon sole
• Unlabelled smoked salmon in 1 kg packages, 15 crates.
• Razor clams, no labels, 4 trays 
• Indian prawns in bags, no labels, 2 blue crates 
• Unrecorded unlabelled loose frozen prawns, 2 blue crates 
• Unlabelled DeBrun prawns, 1 box 
• Unlabelled Rockabill large prawn tails 
• Out of date Hake, 22 boxes 
• Products made from the accounted 16 boxes of hake

Homesavers in Tralee was ordered to cease the sale, packaging and/or processing of all food products on the premises after rodent droppings were found.

FSAI Chief Executive Dr Pamela Byrne said: “Consumers must be able to trust that the food they are being served is safe to eat and it is unacceptable that some food businesses fail to fulfil this duty. Storage and food preparation areas must be properly cleaned and maintained to avoid potential contamination of food. 

"It is also important that businesses have proper pest control procedures in place and that they are regularly checking that there are no pests in their premises."