Food safety watchdog sanctions Cork retailer, Limerick meat processor

Ireland's food safety watchdog issued just two enforcement orders in August with a retailer in Cork and a small meat processing plant in Limerick sanctioned.

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) issued a Closure Order on Khan Spices on North Main Street in Cork after its inspectors noted, amongst other things, a failure to provide a hot water supply to the wash hand basins and an accumulation of dirt and congealed blood in a food storage area.

Door handles, chest freezers, floor and walls were found to be dirty, while a window area was “full of cobwebs, dust and dead insects”. There was no liquid soap available at wash hand basins and no paper towels in dispensers.

Inspectors also found bags of meat stored in plastic bags in freezers that were unlabelled and not date coded and there was “a vast accumulation of rice bags stored within the rear storage area and corridor blocking access, which would not facilitate cleaning. One of these bags was found to be open with rice spilling out,” the report said.

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A large number of flies were also noted.

Elsewhere, the Bailey Foods plant on Slaughterhouse Lane, William Street in Limerick, was issued a prohibition order and told not to produce "minced meat or meat preparations".

Inspectors noted “inadequate hygiene controls over the production of minced meat and meat preparations [and] it was established that burgers produced on site contain the following allergens: Gluten, Soya and Sulphur Dioxide which were not declared on the product label and no associated commercial documents were available.”

The chief executive of the FSAI, Dr Pamela Byrne, stressed it was "essential for adequate pest control systems and robust food hygiene practices to be put in place across all food businesses as they continue to reopen under current government guidance".

She said the orders showed “the need for all food businesses to adhere to the highest food safety and hygiene standards at all times. It is essential that food businesses have a strong food safety and hygiene culture in their business” and added that food safety inspectors were “continuing to encounter basic errors being made by food businesses which are easily avoidable”.

Dr Byrne said the authority was seeing “poor hygiene practices which ultimately create favourable conditions for pests and insects, which pose a serious risk to public health. Food businesses run the risk of making their customers sick and ruining their reputation by neglecting basic food safety and hygiene standards”.