Closure order served on service station due to evidence of ‘rodent droppings’

A service station in Co Cork was forced to close for a day last month after "evidence of rodent droppings" was found in the shop during an inspection, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland has said.

A closure order was served on Millfield Service Station on the Redforge Road, Blackpool, on April 26th after the droppings were noted on “shelving, underneath the equipment wash sink, in storage units for dry goods and behind the shop counter”.

“Evidence of droppings and activity poses a risk of the contamination of foodstuffs and therefore is a grave and immediate danger to public health,” an inspection report stated. The order was lifted the following day.

A closure order was also served on an unregistered food business at 2 Brownsbarn Wood, Kingswood Cross, Dublin 22 as it was operating without registration or approval.

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“In the absence of registration or approval, the competent authority has not had an opportunity to carry out official controls,” the closure order stated. “Food has been placed on the market without the benefit of official controls to verify compliance with food law and protect consumers.”

Dr Pamela Byrne, chief executive of the authority, said the operation of any unregistered food business "will not be tolerated, and the full power of the law will be used to stop these food businesses from putting consumers' health at risk".

She said consumers "have a right to safe food" and that anyone who suspects "unusual activity" is being demonstrated by a food business should make a complaint on the authority's website.

*This article was amended on May 11th, 2021