Freshly Chopped & Neat Pizza in Fairview, Dublin was hit with a closure order by the FSAI last month as an increasing number of businesses fail to follow safety guidelines.
The restaurant was one of eight food businesses shut down by the FSAI in August after inspectors found there was an "active rodent infestation in the kitchen".
The Jazz Chinese Restaurant in Coolock was also shut down on August 27th after the FSAI concluded it posed a "grave and immediate danger to public health" when rodent droppings were spotted.
It was allowed to re-open three days later on August 30th but Food Safety Authority enforcement officer Dr Bernard Hegarty said officials had no choice but to issue the order.
“It was necessary for environmental health officers with the HSE to serve a total of eight closure orders in the month of August across a range of premises across the country,” he said.
“Ranging from Dublin and Donegal, Limerick, Offaly and Tipperary - the problems that were noted in these premises, they fully justified the serving of a closure order.”
Eight Closure Orders were served on food businesses in August.
The Enforcement Orders were issued by Environmental Health Officers in the @HSELive
To read the full press release, please see: https://t.co/tJGvXZMa98#FoodSafety #EnvironmentalHealth pic.twitter.com/HnAozwxb3B
— FoodSafetyAuthority (@FSAIinfo) September 10, 2024
Dr Hegarty said basic cleanliness rules are simply not being followed and there is no excuse for that.
“The kind of issues that were there include pest control problems, basic hygiene deficiencies, lots of dirt built up in premises, food not being stored at the correct temperature and quite serious issues with food allergen information not being made available to customers,” he said.
“Businesses can get supports that are freely available, they know what they have to do to comply with the rules and avoid having their name featured in the list of closure orders.”
So far this year, the FSAI has also instigated two prosecutions for food safety failures - both against a business in Kildare.
Main image: Freshly Chopped & Neat Pizza in Fairview. Picture by: Google Maps.
Reporting by James Wilson and Lynsey Dolan.
