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AN INDIAN TAKEAWAY in Co Donegal was last month served with a closure order by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) after a ‘pond of human excrement’ was discovered in the kitchen.
Three other businesses, in Tipperary and Cork, were also served with orders.
Saffron takeaway, in Creeslough in the northern county, was served with the order on the 19 October.
Among other reasons given for the closure, the restaurant was found to have human excrement overflowing and ponding from beneath a manhole beside the potato peeler in its kitchen.
“As staff had to stand outside while using this food equipment, they would be standing in the excrement, thereby carrying it into the food premises on their shoes,” the closure order reads.
Click here to view a larger image
The order also describes dead flies being found “floating in oil used to baste pizza dough”.
The closure order on the premises was lifted eight days later on 27 October.
The New York Pizza in Ballina Co Tipperary was closed for four days from 27 October, meanwhile, for a succession of hygiene violations which “posed a risk of contamination to food prepared and stored on the premises”.
These included a toilet vent being clogged with dust, food debris and dirt being note on wooden boards in the kitchen, and many different areas being ‘black with dirt’.
Rodent droppings
The Beijing Taste Buffet in Cork city was shut for three days from 24 October due to “prolific evidence of rodent droppings noted throughout the kitchen”.
“All of the above lead to a grave and immediate danger to public health and the risk of contamination of food with pathogenic bacteria and foreign matter, such as rodent droppings,” the closure order reads.
Finally, Chick Chicken in Cobh, Co Cork, was closed, also for three days, from 18 October due to “the presence of a live mouse adjacent to food”, and further rodent activity being observed in the food store room.
All of the closures observed in October have since been lifted by the FSAI.
A further prosecution was also taken by the HSE (under whose aegis the FSAI operates) against the Dropping Well pub in Miltown, south Dublin, for an unknown offence dating from August of this year.
The judge in that case ruled that so long as the pub makes a charitable donation of €500 to Focus Ireland no conviction will be recorded, due to it having a history of no prior convictions.
Pamela Byrne, CEO of the FSAI, described the four closure orders as being “disappointing”.
“It is envisaged that our new systems and processes, that now enable us to provide additional information on the specific details of each enforcement order, will act as a deterrent to food businesses,” she said today.
However, unfortunately there continues to be a small number of food businesses not complying with their legal requirements. Food businesses must recognise that they are legally bound to ensure that the food they serve is safe to eat.
You can read October’s closure orders in full here
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FSAI are now publishing more details on their website as to exact reasons for notices and breaches in Compliance good to see more openness and transparency in the area of food safety for the public especially to let consumers know exactly why there have being issues. Well done FSAI
@PVD: here is one Dropping Well pub in Milltown, Dublin 6. Didn’t expect to see them on the list.
@PVD: Have they been closed down?
@Ciara Baines: they are re opened but were given an order and had to rectify non compliance . They have it on line on the FASI.ie web site
@Ciara Baines: Milltown Inns Ltd. pleaded guilty to 5 breaches of EC Regulation 852/2004. Dont think they closed down but went to court .
Are they sure it was excrement and not just the house curry ?
@Mark Malone: Such owners should be shut down for good and never ever reopened. It isnt on endangering lives and you should not be allowed to operate in the business again.
@Salvatore Mazzani: I can’t believe that they took down your original comment. Someone took offence to it, called you racist and reported it. There was nothing racist in it.
I remember now why I stopped commenting on the Journal, their appalling censorship.
Hang your heads Journal – Shame on you.
@Mark Malone: but sure your commenting away Mark
@Mark Malone:
Tastes the same!
@Mark Malone: yep the journal has lost the plot altogether, started off great, now you can only ‘like’ a comment and as far anything resembling a court action, even if it’s minor and takes place in Outer Mongolia, comments are closed, what a joke.
@Mark Malone:
I noticed that as well. I saw nothing wrong with his comment.
Very strange moderation there.
If it was that dirty – it must have been like that for a long time – possibly years – imagine how many people ate from there in that time?
Good they caught them at all – but should have been caught long before it got that bad.
The FSAI regularly publishes it’s findings, they obviously do unplanned inspections, it actually gives me confidence that when I do eat out that the place is probably OK.
Much better than the other State organizations e.g. Local Authority Housing Inspectors, An Garda Síochána – “Everything’s fine, nothing to see here, move along”
@Páid Ó Donnchú: some years ago I rang them to report a local supermarket when the manager ignored a food safety issue (all the close to sell-by date produce just lumped together in fridge with meat in a torn pack sitting on top of bread). I was so impressed with the inspector who checked it out the same day, rang me afterwards to thank me for contacting them and saying I should phone again if I noticed any further issues.
Inspectors across all areas should be able to do spot-checks like this and not, like DCC, have to give notice of intent to inspect.
Pamela describes the three closure orders as disappointing,Not as disappointing as to find sh.. in your food.Now that’s disappointing.
”overflowing manhole”….couldn’t have put it better myself
Never go to a takeaway where you can’t see the food being cooked.
Buy two takeaways, get a turd free.
My first driving job in San Francisco was for a meat company. After getting into the back of these restaurant with delivery’s in the mornings. I learned how to cook and clean real fast.
That’s a terrible thing to call the FSAI. They’re just doing their job.
@Elma Phudd: lol
“Pond of human Excrement” thought they were talking about Fine Gael for a sec there.
@Diogenes:
75 minutes after publication,
May….. Work…. Harder….
@P.J. Nolan: Dunno what that means but if u in Fine Gael camp, then get back to yer Fine Gael Frape room you Fine Gaol shill!
Have only eaten in one of those named in recent times. Down somewhat from 4 in one particularly bad month. The wish to gawk immediately remains consistent, however.
Always check the cleanliness of the washrooms in restaurants before the meal
If they are in bad shape then chances are the kitchen isn’t much better
I object to the use of the word “manhole” as I find it sexist and gender specific.Could you imagine the outcry from the feminist if the word “womanhole” was use to describe the entrance to a sewage system.In these days of political correctness and gender equality, we are constantly advised to choose our use of language with caution as to avoid giving offence.Can I suggest in future that we refer to this aperture as the “peoples hole”
Don’t pour your oils down into the waste pipes, brought it on themselves, there should be a vat outside the back for oils that is taken away separately. (And people should wipe their pans into the black bin, incidentally.)
Dirty smelly Bsatards.
@Paul Culligan: I don’t know why but this made me laugh so hard. I think its because the child murders and other depressing articles are so heavy that I welcome anything slightly lighter. So thanks.
Nice bit of flavour
Reminds me of the joke: How many seats does a restaurant need before it needs a public toilet?
Just a single stool!
So that’s why there’s peas in my curry sauce!
“would be refugees”
Asylum seekers are not permitted to work in Ireland, Jack. Maybe you should report them. Unless they’re not asylum seekers, and you’re just scared of brown people.
@Ser Barristan Selmy: ___ They’d have to be more than dedicated if they had stand up to their waist in raw sewage while they’re peeling spuds.
Bunch o’ dirty feckers.
Should be closed permanently, I did work in the Beijing buffet and observed one of the kitchen staff spitting on the kitchen floor twice in the hour I was there.
@Larissa Caroline Nikolaus: The sense of humour is weak with you. Get a grip!
@Salvatore Mazzani: And you’re absolutely not racist or xenophobic
Ick!
How do the rest of the world manage to refurbish their homes and still live in them? they refurbish skyscrapers , its not rocket science, loophole created by parasite politicians .
Saffron Takeaway? I’s say your ar*e would be saffron alright I’d say after ‘atin in it… the Japanese flag would have nothing on it.
have your say