THREE CLOSURE orders and two improvement orders were served on food businesses during January for breaches in food safety legislation.
The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) served closure orders on Rezmerita Plus Ltd supermarket trading as Polonez, (delicatessen and butcher area only), Athlone Shopping Centre, Athlone, Co Westmeath, Wok In take-away, Captains Hill, Leixlip, Co Kildare and The Burger Hut Foodstall, Knockcroghery, Co Roscommon.
Improvement orders were served on Roma Take Away, 4 Lower Kennelsfort Road, Palmerstown, Dublin 20, and Bassetts at Woodstock restaurant, Woodstock, Inistioge, Kilkenny.
Under the FSAI Act, 1998, a closure order is served where it is deemed there is or is likely to be a grave and immediate danger to public health at or in the premises, or where an improvement order is not complied with.
Closure orders can refer to the immediate closure of all or part of the premises, or all or some of its activities.
An improvement order may be issued by the District Court if an improvement notice is not complied with within a defined period. Further non-compliance can result in a closure order also being served.
The authority’s chief executive,Prof Alan Reilly, said food businesses should be reviewing their food safety policies and practices, to ensure they protect consumer health in relation to food.
“We are urging all 49,000 food businesses in Ireland to place a renewed focus on food safety and hygiene and to make it a key priority for 2011,” he said.
“Most enforcement orders are served as the result of easily preventable errors, that shouldn’t be occurring if proper policies are followed by the implicated businesses,” he added.
“These errors include dirty premises and unhygienic practices, all leading to a variety of potential food safety hazards, be it contamination of foodstuffs, cross-contamination from raw to cooked foods and improper storage of food,” he said.
“Consumers need to feel confident that the food they are purchasing is safe to eat and every single enforcement order served undermines that confidence. It affects not only the premises involved, but the industry as a whole,” added Prof Reilly.
Details of the food businesses served with these enforcement orders are published on the FSAI's website at www.fsai.ie.