TWO Limerick food outlets have been served with closure orders by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) for breaches of safety regulations governing food practices.
Tasty Food, Cross Avenue, Ballyneety, has been ordered to close for business after inspectors found “food debris and food residue and grease on all work surfaces, shelving, food storage containers, and under equipment”, according to the FSAI.
The inspector also found raw chicken stored above grated cheese and beside cooked chicken.
The FSAI inspector concluded from the findings that food handlers had not received adequate training in safe food handling.
The food authority also reported that Pizza Corner, Main Street, Caherconlish, has also been served with a closure order for the entire premises.
An inspection revealed that sheds at the rear of the restaurant, where food packaging is stored, are not pest proof, nor is the extension at the back of the premises.
One wash-hand basin was used for both washing hands and food, no hot water was available in the basin, and there was no hand-wash basin in the cooking and service area, the FSAI said.
The inspector reported that there was “no evidence available” that staff handling food had been given proper training.
In other areas where restaurants and food outlets across Ireland were inspected during the month of May, FSAI inspectors revealed an unregistered business operating in a shed building where the other half of the shed was a working car workshop; an identification mark belonging to an approved establishment was unlawfully used on food products that had been produced in an unapproved domestic kitchen; inadequate pest control measures; presence of rodent droppings and dead insects in food handling and storage areas; visible mouse droppings; no food safety management system in place; and, in one case, food stored at incorrect temperatures in a container on the grass for an unknown period of time.
