The pupae or eggs of a house fly were found floating in the bottom of a pint glass of cider which a customer at a Salthill hotel had just consumed.
Mr Kevin Loughrey, of the Waterfront Hotel, Salthill, was prosecuted by the Western Health Board and convicted of a breach of EU Food Hygiene Regulations. He was fined €300 plus €500 costs at Galway District Court.
Environmental health officer Ms Eva Staunton said she received a complaint on August 14th last year from a member of the public who showed her a glass containing a small amount of cider. He told her he bought a bottle of cider at the hotel on August 8th last, and poured it into a pint glass. As he neared the end of the glass he noticed foreign bodies floating in the drink, and he took it away to have it analysed.
Ms Staunton said she noted nine very small insect-like bodies which represented insect-like matter, and she sent it away to have it analysed.
The results from the laboratory showed nine, small yellow objects which were the pupae of the common house or kitchen fly. She said the presence of such matter would have rendered the drink unfit for human consumption.
Ms Staunton said the weather was very warm at the time, and people tended to drink outside the hotel where there would be flies. The cleaning process may also have been insufficient.
Hotel manager Mr Ken Bergin said it was a once-off incident, and it wouldn't happen again. He apologised profusely for the incident.
Mr Padraic Harris, solicitor for the health board, said he was looking for €950 costs.
Judge Mary Fahy said the costs were excessive because there was only one summons.
She fined the hotel €300 and awarded €500 costs to the health board.