'No excuse' - Rat infestations found as four food businesses forced to close in January

Four food businesses were closed across Ireland in January following HSE inspections after a number of food safety breaches were found including rat infestations.

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) reported on Tuesday that Environmental Health Officers in the Health Service Executive (HSE) served four Closure Orders on food businesses during the month of January 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.

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One Closure Order was served under the FSAI Act, 1998 on:

• The Shamrock Lodge (Closed area: The kitchen only) (Public House), Seamus Ennis Road, Finglas, Dublin 11

Three Closure Orders were served under the European Union (Official Controls in Relation to Food Legislation) Regulations, 2020 on:

• O’Connell’s Foodstore (Closed activities - Holding of all foods labelled with 'use by' dates for the purpose of sale or supply. [Note: This notice does not restrict the sale or supply of foods labelled with a 'best before' date]) (Retailer), Main Street, Bansha, Tipperary
• White Sands Hotel (Closed area: the small kitchen ground floor), Coast Road, Portmarnock, County Dublin
• Chillers Restaurant and Lounge, Unit 1, Liffey Valley Complex, Fonthill Road, Clondalkin, Dublin 22

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Some of the reasons for the Enforcement Orders in January include: rodent activity was found in a kitchen ground floor; an accumulation of grease deposits that had formed on the ceiling tiles above a utensil wash sink; a bucket full of brown unidentifiable liquid containing white pipes beneath the sink in a bar area; walls, wall floor junctions and doors in a main kitchen area spattered with food and dirty throughout; a major leak from the ceiling in a kitchen area requiring a number of buckets placed on the floor and on surfaces where food was being prepared; unsafe food placed on the market that was past its ‘use by’ dates.

Commenting on the closures, Mr Greg Dempsey, Chief Executive of the FSAI, highlighted the need for food businesses to implement a rigorous food safety management system with their business.

“Inspectors are finding recurring incidents of unhygienic practices and rodent infestations in food businesses. Implementing and maintaining a food safety management system is a basic requirement and should be of the highest importance for food businesses.

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"Maintaining a clean premises is not a ‘nice to have’ - it is a basic legal requirement. All food businesses have a duty of care to their customers to serve food that is prepared in a clean premises and is safe to eat. There is no excuse for bad practice.”

Full details of the food businesses served with Enforcement Orders are published on the FSAI’s website at www.fsai.ie.

Closure Orders and Improvement Orders will remain listed in the enforcement reports on the website for a period of three months from the date of when a premises is adjudged to have corrected its food safety issue, with Prohibition Orders being listed for a period of one month.