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INSECTS were found crawling around in a box of sweets bought at a cinema in Tallaght in Dublin, a court has heard.
Irish Multiplex Cinema (IMC) Tallaght Ltd was convicted and fined €700 after pleading guilty at Dublin District Court to selling contaminated food that was unsafe for human consumption.
The prosecution was brought by the Health Service Executive (HSE) under an EU law regulating food safety.
It came after a complaint about the cinema, which is in the Square Shopping Centre in Tallaght, was made to environmental health officer Fiona Healy.
Outlining the facts of the case, solicitor Adrian Lennon, for the HSE, told Judge John Brennan that the case related to IMC Tallaght which could be described as a low risk food retailer selling confectionery, soft drinks and popcorn.
On 8 December 2016, customers bought sweets at the cinema which were put into a cardboard container which they later brought home.
“When they were getting to the bottom, they discovered a lot of insects crawling among the sweets in the container,” Mr Lennon said.
This rendered the product unsuitable for human consumption by reason of contamination.
IMC Tallaght’s solicitor told the court that the sweets were a small quantity which had come from a larger mass provided by a third-party supplier. That product line has now been discontinued, the court heard.
The food hygiene offence could result in class-B fine of up to €3,000, the court was told.
Judge Brennan said it was clearly a serious matter as the defendant is a large business operation with thousands of consumers going there on a regular basis. That, he said, has to be taken into account an aggravating factor.
He also said it must have been particularly discommoding for the cinema-goers to find the insects at the bottom of their sweets.
However, he noted the cinema had no prior criminal convictions, the quantity was very small and there was a third-party supplier. They had discontinued the product line and had taken appropriate action, he said.
He imposed a €700 fine and ordered that it must be paid within three months.
Judge Brennan ruled that due to the guilty plea being entered on the first day the case was before the court he was not going to order the cinema firm to pay prosecution costs.
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Did they charge extra for the insects? €8 instead of the customary €6 for a little box of sweets??
@WJH: Hah, you are right, since they are usually weighed they must have ! Nasty
Sure don’t they cover their insects with sprinkles and eat them roasted in China. Extra protein, you’ll have all the teenage boys in their washing them down with chocolate milk.
There*
@WJH:
I don’t know what’s wrong with Irish people these days. Back when I was a lad it wouldn’t be a good night out if nothing bit you!
How many others bought the sweets and ate them in the darkness of the cinema watching the movie. Questions why anyone would buy pick and mix with no use by date shown.
Use by date is only a guideline, sometimes mill goes off sooner as does the likes of chicken. However some items are still good past their use by date. I worked in a shop and we could take the out of date food items home and eat them :). I’m not dead yet.
I also have makeup that I opened 9 years ago and it’s still good.
As for insects crawling around that would put me off, especially if I found half a fly
Sorry I couldn’t finish the sentence, I puked up a bit. Half a fly! *shudders*
My dad (god rest his soul) used to say “What’s worse than finding a fly in your food?”
I would shrug.
He would say “Finding half a fly.”
@Lily: You are completely wrong and you are confusing USE BY with BEST BEFORE. USE BY date means use it before that date. Best Before date is the longest a product will remain at its best before deterioration and quality decline. Short Shelf live products have a USE BY date as there is a danger to human health to consume food after its use by date as its usually decaying. So don’t eat it, cook it or freeze it.
Use by date is only a guideline. There is one second to 23 hours 59 minutes and 59 seconds difference between one day and the next day. If something has a bb date of a couple of years (has no use by or sell by date). A few days won’t be any harm. Even during a zombie apocalypse I think I would risk pasta or rice going past their sell by date by a couple of years. Even tinned beans.
Lily, you’re still confusing them. Use by is not a guideline, it’s a final date for consumption. Pasta, tinned goods and Rice have a Best Before date. Again, it’s different to the Use By date.
Never buy pick and mix. You never know what the last set of fingers fumbling around in them might have been fumbling around with before.
Yeah it could have been Joachim Löw before you **shudders**
@ian sorry, you are the one that is incorrect.
Bring your own in like we always did years ago, the mother would do up a bag of stuff for half the price, yellow pack all the way, probably contaminated with every bad E number under the sun but sher we survived!
Boring comment
Boring reply.
Joyless comment
@ChopperMc: reply was for chopper lol ;(
@Niall Browne: We were up in IMC Tallaght at the weekend and there are giant signs up as you enter the cinema telling you that outside food and drinks are not allowed. That particular cinema seems stricter on that sort of thing than other I’ve been to strangely enough.
€700 quid?
For poisoning someone.
I know it’s a cliche – but the law in Ireland is an absolute joke.
It’s not the fine that will hurt. It’s the negative press. This will cost them thousands in lost revenue.
@Emmet O’Keeffe: As if a person eating a box of sweets is worried about nutrition, in fact the insect may be more nutritious. Bit of good protein there :)
@Peter Cavey:
Possibly.
No harm swallowing a fly ,midge or two, Check out “midge burgers Africa” and you will realise they are a welcome source of protein and are so important for the diet of people who live there.
Sneakin in without payin! Gits
€700 with 3 months to pay? Where is the deterring factor there?
Your name is a deterring factor
@ChopperMc youre a bit grumpy this evening…have you eaten anything for dinner? My fella gets vety grumpy on an empty stomach.
Think it would help here if the third party supplier was named and shamed too, what if any action is the food safety authority about them and whoever else they supply to in Ireland.
there used to be rats running around the floor of the Stella
And pigeons in the roof. Good times
Insects probably contained more nutrition than the sweets.
Must be a new flavor of Revels
@Lily:again you’re confusing use by and best before. Use by is for foods that are unsafe to eat after that date due to bacterial spoilage, eg raw meat. Best before means what it says, that the item will be at its best before that date -usually on low risk items- dry goods etc. BIG difference
So what….no one died….
Apart from all that missus. How was the film?
Far east sweets?
So the judge gave them an earwigging.
Dirty filthy kip of a place.
Smelly Jellies…
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