Two Cork food businesses issued with enforcement orders last month
Prohibition Orders were served under the FSAI Act, 1998 on two food business operating out of the same address in Douglas.
A takeaway and a food store, both of which are located at the same address in Douglas, were issued prohibition orders by the Food Safety Authority (FSAI) on July 17, after a power outage led to food in freezers thawing.
Three Prohibition Orders were served under the FSAI Act, 1998 in July including the two in Cork. The orders were served at the takeaway Goa Indian Spice Kitchen Ltd and retailer Select Asia both located at Unit 103, St Patrick’s Woollen Mills, Douglas.
Prohibition orders are issued if the activities involve or are likely to involve a serious risk to public health from a particular product, class, batch or item of food . The effect is to prohibit the sale of the product, either temporarily or permanently, but the business can remain open.
An electric outage had occurred on the Douglas premises for approximately 24 hours, and the maintenance of the cold chain was interrupted resulting in inappropriate food storage temperatures in the cold room, refrigerator and chest freezers.
Thawed food products were found in several freezers in the ground floor retail section and upstairs of the premises.
Five downstairs freezers and two upstairs contained prepacked frozen food products which had thawed, with air temperature of 4.8°C recorded in one freezer, while an open tray containing joints of meat which were recorded at 14.9°C was discovered in a cold room.
In the adjacent retail premises upstairs rear storage room, the chest freezer containing pre-packed frozen products and foods prepared in the take-away kitchen had a recorded air temperature of 7.8°C.
The inspector noted:
The business was directed to withdraw the items of food identified from sale with immediate effect, with the inspector saying “the activities of storage and selling of food involve or, are likely to involve, a serious risk to public health from the said Items of food for the particular reasons set out in Part 2 of the Schedule.”
They were ordered to ensure that the food is not used for human consumption, is recalled from sale or distribution and is detained or is destroyed in a manner prescribed by an authorised officer.
Dr Pamela Byrne, chief executive, of the FSAI, emphasised that compliance with food safety and hygiene regulations should be of the highest priority for all food businesses.
“Food businesses have a legal responsibility to ensure the safety of the food they produce, distribute or sell by maintaining proper storage temperatures, ensuring staff are properly trained, having stringent hygiene practices and ensuring their food businesses are fully pest proofed.
“Achieving a strong food safety culture requires continuous and consistent training for all team members”.
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