Four food businesses in Dublin, Mayo ordered to close

The Food Safety Authority ordered four businesses in Dublin and Mayo to shut last month over unsafe food practices.

A restaurant in Dublin was served with a prohibition order after envrionmental health officers found a number of goat's heads in sacks on the premises.

The businesses ordered to close were the Café Leon bistro on Exchequer Street, Dublin 2; Jade Garden Chinese takeaway in Terenure, Dublin 6W; Polski Sklep supermarket on North Earl Street, Dublin 1 and the 3 in 1 coffee house, fast food and Indian takeaway in Belmullet, Co Mayo.

A spokesman for Café Leon said it was closed for a day while a broken drain was being fixed. The FSAI said Polski Sklep was allowed to reopen two days after being issued with the order, while the two other businesses remain shut.

Akanchawa's Honey Pot restaurant on Parnell Street in Dublin was issued with a prohibition order after FSAI inspectors discovered four sacks of goat heads, legs and other parts stored in unsanitary conditions. The order was lifted two days later when the meat was removed and destroyed.

A closure order is issued if the FSAI rules there is or there is likely to be a grave and immediate danger to public health in the food premises. The order can refer to the immediate closure of all or part of the food premises, or all or some of its activities.

Businesses are served with prohibition orders if their activities involve or are likely to involve a serious risk to public health from a particular product, class, batch or item of food.

The chief executive of the FSAI Dr John O'Brien warned food businesses they have an obligation to ensure the food they serve is safe for consumption. He said each enforcement order the FSAI is forced to make undermines public confidence in the food sector.

"Enforcement officers only resort to using these legal powers when standards have fallen so low that consumer health has been put at risk," he said.

The FSAI has issued nine closure orders in the first two months of this year, compared to 34 for the whole of 2008.