FIVE FOOD BUSINESSES in Dublin’s Moore Street Mall were issued with closure orders last month.

Moore Street Mall is an underground shopping centre off Parnell Street that contains food markets and restaurants.

These closure orders issued by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) have since been lifted on three of the businesses, but remain in place for the other two.

Closure Orders can refer to the immediate closure of all or part of the food premises – in each of the Moore Street Mall incidents, all of the premises were ordered to close.

The orders may be lifted when the premises have improved to the satisfaction of the authorised officer.

The two businesses in Moore Street Mall that remain under closure orders as of today are Kebab House 66 and Georgian Delight.

In Kebab House 66, inspectors reported evidence of two dead mice in cockroach traps under a fridge in the back kitchen area.

Mouse droppings were also found on a trolly which was storing cabbage and onions which were intended to be consumed in their raw state.

Further mouse droppings were found on a nearby electrical socket and wall.

This was despite the last available pest control report provided by the business’s pest control service provider stating that there was “no roach or rodent activity”.

The FSAI inspector also warned that the mice were likely to have come into contact with ready-to-eat foods and food contact materials.

The inspector noted that this would likely cause contamination with harmful pathogens such as salmonella, which rodents carry on their paws and excrete.

The inspector warned that food prepared in these conditions is likely unsafe and “poses grave and immediate risk to public health”.

Georgian Delight also remains under a closure order after mice were also discovered in a cockroach trap.

A recently trapped mouse was observed in a cockroach trap, while two other recently trapped mice were found in another trap under the food wash sink.

Mouse droppings were also found in a number of areas of the kitchen, such as beside a chopping board and inside the vent of a fridge where open food was stored.

A recent pest control report by Georgian Delight’s pest control service provider stated that there was “zero rodent or roach activity”.

The FSAI inspector also noted there was a salmonella risk and warned that food prepared in these conditions “pose a grave and immediate risk to public health”.

Meanwhile, the three other premises in Moore Street Mall which were issued with closure orders had these orders lifted last week, on 10 April.

In Dailo Nepali Kitchen, the inspector who issued the closure order found evidence of an “active cockroach infestation”, with an “alive adult cockroach and a nymph on a trap”.

It was further warned by the FSAI inspector that cockroaches were “likely to have had contact” with equipment and ready to eat foods and that this poses a “grave and immediate risk”.

In Tiramisu Mania, there was also evidence of an active cockroach infestation with live cockroaches noted on traps in the food preparation area.

The FSAI inspector added that “all stages of the life cycle, nymph to adults, were noted alive in the traps”.

And in Spicy Bite, there was also evidence of live cockroaches in a trap in the food preparation area where an open buffer was left uncovered.

An FSAI inspector also found multiple dead cockroaches inside a fridge and dead cockroaches were also found in a trap in a ceiling vent in the food preparation area, as well as in a trap on top of the walk-in fridge.

The most recent pest control report from the business’s pest control service provider stated that there was “light activity for mice, roach activity zero”.

The FSAI report warned that cockroaches were likely to have come into contact with ready to eat foods.

Meanwhile, a closure order remains in place at a wholesaler in Co Meath, while other closure orders on businesses across Limerick, Dublin, Cork and Wexford have been lifted.

Greg Dempsey, Chief Executive of the FSAI, remarked that it is “disappointing that we continue to see enforcement action being necessary due to fundamental breaches”.

He said these are “entirely preventable non-compliances when proper food safety management systems are in place” and added that “consumers have a right to safe food”.