5 closure orders served on food businesses in October

Five closure orders were served on food businesses during the month of October, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) has announced.

The orders were served for breaches of food safety legislation, pursuant to the FSAI Act, 1998, the authority says.

The enforcement orders were issued by environmental health officers in the Health Service Executive (HSE).

Five closure orders were served under the FSAI Act, 1998 on:

Koi Sushi (Takeaway), 1 Shanvarna Road, Santry, Dublin 9;
Nagoya Sushi (Takeaway), 1 Shanvarna Road, Santry, Dublin 9;
Kyoto Sushi (Takeaway), 1 Shanvarna Road, Santry, Dublin 9;
TFS Wholesale, Unit 6 & 7 Colomane, Bantry, Co. Cork;
Speedos (Restaurant/ Café), 8 Tuckey Street, Cork City, Cork.

According to the FSAI, some of the reasons for the closure orders in October include: unregistered online sushi takeaways operating from a bedroom of a house where there were breaches of food legislation and food safety controls and record keeping; food being produced, processed and distributed in an unsatisfactory and unclean environment; and absence of safe practice when handling raw fish and cooked rice.

Other reasons include: a live rodent being observed running across a rear wall; evidence of extensive rodent activity throughout food preparation and storage areas; rodent droppings and gnawed foodstuffs all posing a serious risk of contamination to food and consumers.

Dr. Pamela Byrne, chief executive of the FSAI, expressed particular concern that this month’s enforcement orders included three closure orders in relation to individuals running online unregistered and unsupervised food businesses selling a range of sushi products from the bedroom of a house.

“Running a food business that has not been registered and is, therefore, not supervised is totally unacceptable and poses a very serious risk to consumers’ health,” she said.

“In these instances, the unregistered businesses were producing sushi without any hygiene or temperature controls.

“Sushi is a very high-risk product because it contains raw fish which must be kept chilled to reduce the growth of dangerous bacteria. It can also contain cooked rice, which is a ready-to-eat product that must be kept chilled.

In these instances, the absence of a food safety management system, no monitoring of the cold chain and no evidence of traceability of raw ingredients posed a grave and immediate danger to consumer health.

“Consumers should only buy from established food businesses,” Dr. Byrne added.