THE FOOD SAFETY Authority of Ireland (FSAI) issued ten closure orders were served on food businesses during the month of February.
The FSAI said the venues were closed for breaches of Irish and EU food safety legislation. Five closure orders were given to businesses in violation of the FSAI Act, 1998 and another five were issued under EU regulations.
Among the reasons for the closures were the presence of rodent droppings, poorly stored food, dirty surfaces and in one case, evidence that staff had been sleeping in a store room.
Closure orders may be lifted when the area in the premises in question has improved to the satisfaction of inspectors.
Those in violation of Irish law were:
Lusk Chinese Take Away was found to have poor cleaning facilities, including a clogged sink filled with bloody water. The restaurant also failed to protect food from contamination and store it appropriately, the FSAI report said.
“This was evident by raw chicken being prepared on the equipment sink and blood being present without any evidence of cleaning taking place,” the inspector noted.
At Offbeat Donuts in Cork, the order was given that the upstairs storage room must be closed because it was not adequately pest proofed and the inspector found rodent droppings and evidence of “pest activity”. The area was re-inspected and reopened earlier this month.
Coriander Nepalese and Indian Restaurant was deemed infested with rodents, evidenced by “rodent droppings present where food was prepared and served”, the inspection report said.
The infestation posed “a grave and immediate danger to public health”, it said.
Strudel Artisan Bakery was also ordered to close due to the presence of rodent droppings in food preparation areas that also posed an immediate risk to public health because of the risk of the food becoming contaminated.
Amerta Chinese Restaurant had “very poor hygiene practices”, the report said.
There was “no evidence” to suggest there was a proper food safety management system in place and there were “thick accumulations of grease and grime on many surfaces”.
Additionally, many meat containers were not labelled and therefore their expiry date could not be known, according to the inspector’s report.
The five businesses closed for breaching EU regulations included:
At Hidden Dojo Asian Streetfood and Wakami Sushi & Asian, both on the same premises, the wash hand basin was broken, there was no soap or hand drying materials on the premises and the inspector found evidence that staff had been sleeping in a storage room.
A mattress, blankets and a duvet were found, as well as toothpaste and other toiletries.
Food was also not labelled, surfaces were “filthy” and the premises was described as “ideal for an infestation of pests”.
Shinu George, which used a domestic premises to prepare food for catering off-site, was closed because the kitchen did not provide a sufficiently hygienic environment for preparing food.
At Hayashi, there was “insufficient evidence to demonstrate adequate food safety controls in the production of sushi,” the inspector’s report said.
The premises were also not adequately cleaned and that had featured in a previous report, the inspector wrote.
Pure Indulgence was ordered to stop advertising and selling food described as “Nut Free” because of a failure to keep products separate and avoid cross contamination, the FSAI report said.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say