Five food business were forced to close down last month after concerns were raised that they posed a danger to public health.
The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) said 11 enforcement orders were served on food businesses in August for breaches of food safety legislation.
The five businesses closed down by environmental health officers (EHOs) were:
- Hoo Xing restaurant, New Street, Ballaghaderreen, Co Roscommon
- Diamond Coast Hotel Limited (catering facilities), Bartragh, Enniscrone, Co Sligo
- The Golden Star Chinese take-away, Barrack Street, Dunmore, Co Galway
- Jack's Take-away, 143 Parnell Street, Dublin 1
- Crystal Palace restaurant, Main Street, Kilcoole, Co Wicklow
Separately, six prohibition orders were served on retail butcher outlets by EHOs in the Dublin North Eastern Region for not complying with laws on handling so-called specified risk material (SRM).
Under the legislation, butchers must be authorised to remove the vertebral column from bovine animals aged over 24 months. It also prohibits the sale of beef on the bone from bovine animals aged over 24 months.
The orders were served on:
FSAI chief executive Dr John O'Brien said it was "highly unorthodox" for unauthorised premises to handle bovine carcasses from animals over 24 months of age or to remove vertebral column from such animals without the necessary controls being in place.
"We will be carrying out further checks on retail butcher outlets to verify that the relevant legislation is being complied with, and to ensure that those retail butcher outlets who are removing SRM vertebral column have the correct authorisation to do so," he said.