Food businesses in Meath, Wexford and Louth served with closure orders

A pizza restaurant in Dunshaughlin, a gastropub in Navan, an Asian takeaway restaurant in Wexford town and a fast food takeaway in Drogheda have all been served with closure orders due to breaches of food safety legislation.

The four food businesses were ordered to close last month after inspections by environmental health officers from the HSE uncovered breaches including the use of water that was “unfit for human consumption”, poor cleaning through certain premises and a failure to segregate raw and cooked meats.

An inspection of the O'Brien's restaurant in Johnstown Village in Navan, Co Meath found that the private water supply to the premises was "unfit for human consumption" and posed a "serious risk to public health". Under the closure order the gastropub will no longer be able to serve food but can continue to sell beverages in disposable containers from the public bar area. All water used in drinks or ice is to be brought into the pub from a potable supply. The gastropub reopened the following day.

Inspectors at the Pizza Point restaurant in Dunshaughlin, Co Meath found there was no hot water supply for cleaning hands, washing food or for cleaning and disinfecting work utensils. The inspection report found that cleaning was “poor throughout the premises” which could “pose a risk of contamination of foodstuffs”. There was no allergen information available for items on the menu and the staff member on site during the inspection had no formal food hygiene training.

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The Lotus takeaway restaurant in Wexford town was served with a closure order after inspectors found it had failed to properly pack and segregate raw and cooked food while food being transported to other businesses was at risk of contamination. The same vehicle that was used to transport food was also used to transport waste oil, noted the health and safety report. Raw mushroom containers were also reused for storage and the transport of cooked food which was “loosely covered in cling film”, it added.

The restaurant also failed to provide adequate work space for hygienic food preparation and food items were not properly labelled, according to inspectors. The business also failed to label allergens on its food.

The Riverview Takeaway in Drogheda, Co Louth was forced to close because of its failure to handle raw kebab meat and raw chicken meat in a hygienic way. The inspection of the takeaway in early August found that management and staff working with food in the premises "did not demonstrate sufficient knowledge to enable them to carry out their work activities in a safe and hygienic manner" and that the lack of basic knowledge from staff and lack of supervision posed "an unacceptable risk to consumer safety".

Dr Pamela Byrne, chief executive of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, warned that food safety inspectors were continuing to encounter "basic errors" being made by food businesses "which are easily avoidable".

“Closure orders are served on food businesses only when a risk to consumer health has been identified or where there are a number of ongoing breaches of food legislation, and that largely tends to relate to serious and grave hygiene or other operational issues,” said Dr Byrne. “These closure orders indicate that not all food businesses are complying with the law and as a result, are potentially putting consumers’ health at serious risk.”

* This article was edited on September 20th, 2018, to note the O'Brien's gastropub reopened the day following the closure order