Four food businesses in Ireland were slapped with enforcement orders last month after a number of alarming rule breaks were found - from live rodents to mice droppings and unsafe meat.
The Food Safety Authority of Ireland released the updated report this week, detailing that four enforcement orders were served on food businesses during the month of January "for breaches of food safety legislation".
The Enforcement Orders were issued by Environmental Health Officers in the Health Service Executive (HSE) and local authority veterinary inspectors in Monaghan County Council.
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Health inspectors, who visited each of the premises, listed some of the reasons for the Enforcement Orders in January as:
- live rodents
- mouse infestations
- unsafe meat
- lack of knowledge regarding allergen information
The first Closure Order was served under the FSAI Act, 1998 on the Spiceland fishmongers in Letterkenny, located at Unit 1, Green Isle Park, Port Road, Ballyraine, Letterkenny, Co Donegal.
According to the report for Spiceland: "Adequate procedures were not in place to prevent rodents gaining access to the premises. There was widespread evidence of a mouse infestation throughout the premises.
"Mouse droppings were found in the retail, storage, and delivery areas of the shop. There was evidence of damage by mice to food and food packaging on the premises.
"On the evidence noted above there is or is likely to be a grave and immediate danger to health. The conditions noted could lead to a serious risk of food being contaminated with pathogenic bacteria likely to render the food unfit for human consumption."
The next Closure Order was served on Happy Valley Chinese Take-Away, 3 Main Street, Duleek, in Co Meath.
The report logged for this location read: "Adequate procedures were not in place to control pests. A live rodent was observed in the kitchen. Evidence of rodent activity may pose a risk of exposed food and food contact surfaces becoming contaminated with pathogenic bacteria which may render foodstuffs unsafe resulting in a risk to health."
A Prohibition Order was served on World of Spices, which is located at 12 Talbot Street, Dublin 1, with the business operator failing to "provided adequate traceability information and failed to have in place systems and procedures to allow for this information to be made available on demand."
As well as this, the FSAI report states that there was a failure to provide food information to customers on labels, failure to provide allergen information on unlabelled food, uncertainty regarding conditions under which food was managed and the processing of foods in an unapproved establishment,
A second Prohibition Order was served on a premises occupied by Antanas Damarodas at Lacken, Latton, Castleblayney, Co. Monaghan.
This report explained that: "All meat preparations and meat products identified on the premises occupied by Mr. Antanas Damarodas at Lacken, Latton, Castleblayney, Co Monaghan, composing eight plastic containers of pork meat mixed with spices and pork meat in marinade.
“Part 2 Particular Reasons for making of Order
- The origin of the meat on the premises cannot be ascertained
- The meat is being stored on an unregistered and unapproved premises."
Commenting, Dr Pamela Byrne, Chief Executive, FSAI, said that every food business must have a robust food safety management system in place.
"To ensure food safety and hygiene, every food business is required by law to have a robust food safety management system and to also ensure that this system is working properly," she said.
"While the majority of those inspected have adequate procedures in place, the fact that Environmental Health Officers continue to find incidents of rodents and pest infestations in some food businesses highlights that a food safety management system is not working.
"Consumers have a right to safe food and food businesses have a legal responsibility to ensure that it is safe to eat. To address this issue with pest control, we are running a free Breakfast Bite webinar on 1 March on managing and monitoring pest control procedures in food businesses. Registration for this webinar can be accessed on the FSAI website."
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