Thursday, 11 May 2023
The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) today reported that three Closure Orders and one Prohibition Order were served on food businesses during the month of April for breaches of food safety legislation, pursuant to the FSAI Act, 1998 and the European Union (Official Controls in Relation to Food Legislation) Regulations, 2020. The Enforcement Orders were issued by Environmental Health Officers in the Health Service Executive (HSE).
One Closure Order was served under the FSAI Act, 1998 on:
- Little Neros, The Square, Abbeyfeale, Limerick
Two Closure Orders were served under the European Union (Official Controls in Relation to Food Legislation) Regulations, 2020 on:
- Meaghers Daybreak (Closed areas (1) The deli area; (2) The open refrigerated display unit in the middle of the retail area for foods requiring refrigerated storage. The sale of all other foods from the retail area is not affected by the Closure Order), Kerry Street, Fethard, Tipperary
- Vicos Grill, 1 Ludlow Street, Navan, Meath
One Prohibition Order was served under the European Union (Official Controls in Relation to Food Legislation) Regulations, 2020 on:
- Pak Halal, 76 Main Street, Swords, Co. Dublin
Some of the reasons for the Enforcement Orders in April include: frozen food was labelled as fresh food and the majority of food had passed its use-by date or had no-use by date; a food business had failed to maintain the cold chain, having previously been warned of similar non-compliance in March 2022; while food was being prepared, there was no electricity on the premises and the boiler was broken; the filters of the canopy above the cooking equipment were unclean; high risk food was stored at unsafe temperatures, with cooked chicken stored at 11°C and garlic mayonnaise stored at 12.1°C; allergen information was either missing or inaccurate; hand washing facilities lacked hot water; food packaging was damaged and food was not protected from potential contamination; and food handlers were inadequately trained or supervised in food safety matters.
Commenting, Dr Pamela Byrne, Chief Executive, FSAI, said that while the majority of food businesses comply with food safety legislation, there continues to be a number who fail to meet their legal requirements.
“The Enforcement Orders served represent a clear disregard for compliance with food legislation which has been put in place to protect consumers. Consumers have a right to safe food. Maintaining a clean premises with constant and reliable access to hot water and electricity is a basic, legal and mandatory requirement of all food businesses. Food businesses are also legally obliged to provide consumers with accurate written allergen information on all food, whether prepacked or not.
“If a consumer is not happy with the standard of hygiene in a food business, or the food is not fit to eat, or a food label is not accurate, they can contact us via our online complaint form and we will pass it to the relevant inspectorate to investigate.”
Details of the food businesses served with Enforcement Orders are published on the FSAI’s website. Closure Orders and Improvement Orders will remain listed in the enforcement reports on the website for a period of three months from the date when a premises is adjudged to have corrected its food safety issue, with Prohibition Orders being listed for a period of one month.
